The tbs documentary "the Native Americans" was gorgeous, unsettling, provocative. So is Robertson's music for it. With the Band, Robertson created one of the most extraordinary canons in modern pop; a kind of alternative Americana, his songs were honky-tonk fables of heroes and villains set to tunes of a wondrous carnival spirit. Robertson's mother was a Mohawk raised on Canada's Six Nations reservation; he now reclaims an earlier America and his own heritage. Heading the Red Road Ensemble – Priscilla and Rita Coolidge, the Silver Cloud Singers, Ulali and Douglas Spotted Eagle among its members – Robertson combines the heartbeat percussion and keening vocals of indigenous music with pop and classical elements. Like Ennio Morricone, he has a gift for sound that's both stately and hip, primal and intricate. A shuddering sadness underlies such pieces as "Ghost Dance" and "Twisted Hair," and that's proper – this is primarily a chronicle of profound loss. But in the Native American poetry and the fused strength of guitar, strings, natural elements and found sound, there is celebration – a ritual summoning of a spirit that lives yet. (RS 698/699)

PAUL CORIO