Stephen Lewis has his parents to thank for his taste in music so, by extension, fans of The Band have them to thank for Lewis’s upcoming book on Stratford native Richard Manuel.
Lewis, who operates the blog ‘Talk from the Rock Room’ when he’s not busy at his day job, developed a taste for The Band after his parents exposed him to all different kinds of music growing up – going as far as calling their taste in tune ‘impeccable’.
“From the Beatles through Bob Dylan, that’s basically how I found The Band,” Lewis said. “I started writing articles about things I liked and I did a couple reviews and then an article on the anniversary of either Richard’s birthday or of his passing when someone randomly commented that this guy needs a book. I just started turning it over in my head and thought I could do it.”
Lewis talked about how Manuel is largely remembered, especially after Robbie Robertson’s documentary film Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, saying the musician had a character rich in pathos but he was so much more than that.
“There’s just this thing about Richard that drew me to him that I couldn’t put my finger on, so I knew I needed to do a deep dive into his history,” he said. “He’s kind of defined by his tragic end, but being the rock history geek that I am, I found all sorts of incredible things. I talked with Eric Clapton for the book and we talked about Richard singing the blues as a young Canadian kid. Clapton helped bring in a blues forefront with the British boom, but Ricahrd was doing that well before the (British) hit. He was singing Bobby Bland, Ray Charles and those kind of guys – I just found it fascinating that there was so much to his life that no one would ever know.”
Drawing from sources like Levon Helm’s book and Robertson’s film, Lewis found other connections to help him with stories that painted a much less well known picture of Manuel. He talked about the late John Till from Stratford, who then connected Lewis with Manuel’s family (including his son in Woodstock). When the project began, Lewis was resigning himself to the idea that it might just be a series of posts on his blog, but then momentum took over.
“What made this a fully-formed book was everyone being so willing to contribute and they were all so happy to talk about (Richard), which fell right in my wheelhouse,” he said. “I love rock history and I don’t want to sound cheesy about everything, but it just all came together with the collaborations and I’m so happy that it did. Richard deserves this, and it happened that I got a publisher who loves Richard and was familiar with his story and knew that it needed to be told.”
For many, Manuel’s substance abuse and the public perception of it painted a particular picture of him for a long time, and Lewis had to find a way to separate that from the rest of his story without trying to re-write or whitewash it. His goal was to stay true to Manuel’s story and believes he was able to walk that line and present a genuine portrait of who the man behind some of the best-known music of his generation was.
“When I reached the end of the book, my editor and I looked at each other and were like, ‘we wish this ended differently’, and I had it in my mind that it would,” Lewis said. “And even though I knew that was silly, I’d just learned so much about him as a person that I didn’t expect that conclusion. Once I spoke to the people that loved Richard – his friends and family and other people in Stratford – I realized that’s why I took this on, so that I could separate those parts of his life. He was so important to music and The Band that I feel like Richard was that guy who if there was something going on in the studio and someone needed to hit that note … Richard would be that guy who could come in and express that. Some people I talked with compared him to Brian Wilson in that way, being a damaged genius. I think that’s what people are going to get from this book.”
One of the big themes Lewis explores in the book is how selfless Manuel was when it came to his music, having a desire to surround himself with friends and just play. He talks about the long list of collaborators and how Manuel could fit himself in without worry of who got the credit.
“Richard was able to take that little bit of something, that chord or little twist and a turn of a phrase and make it into something special,” Lewis said. “I spoke with John Sebastian and he said the same thing: Richard just liked coming over to hang out and play music with his friends. That went all the way back to his days in Stratford, looking for people that had pianos so he could take part and play.”
When people finally get a chance to read the book (due out May 28, 2025), Lewis hopes that readers will see the light and the dark, perhaps changing their perception of Manuel while also reinforcing their notion of who he actually was.
“It does a little of each of those things,” Lewis said. “I gleaned a lot from friends of his in his early years when he was becoming this powerhouse musician, to stuff from his days in Woodstock and beyond that. I wanted this book to be a tribute to Richard, to focus on the music and look at his finest moments performing in the studio. I hope people walk away from reading this saying that, wow, this guy was in a group where every member was equally important and they each had something special to contribute to The Band. But when you distill it down, you have this 18-year-old kid driving from Canada to Arkansas and he had a vision and made it happen. That’s just incredible to me – I feel like the entire book is a hero’s journey.”
