When Dan Cervantes was a kid growing up in San Diego, California, he fell in love with the music of The Band, the iconic Canadian-American rock band that combined elements of Americana, folk, rock, jazz and country, and influenced artists ranging from George Harrison, Elton John and the Grateful Dead, to Eric Clapton and Wilco.
Over the years, Cervantes gravitated to other kinds of music, becoming a singer-songwriter, record producer, label owner and leader of his own band, Mrs. Henry, named after the Bob Dylan/Band song, "Please Mrs. Henry." But he returned to his original love in the form of an official revival and tribute to the Band called Chest Fever, which will swing through New England over the next week, making stops in Burlington (Nectar's) Saturday, Brattleboro (the Stone Church) on Sunday, and Norwood, Mass. (Fallout Shelter) on Tuesday.
"I personally think it's great, great music," Cervantes said recently in a phone interview while on the road at the start of the tour in Missouri. "There are people around the world who love the Band's music. And there will always be people who want to experience a five-piece band playing that music in probably as close to a spirit as you can match to the Band."
The group, named for the loping, groove-laden track from the Band's first album, "Music From Big Pink," isn't so much a tribute act as it is a group putting its own spin on the Band's songs.
This is Chest Fever’s third year on the road touring North America, with many highlights including a sold out show at Toronto’s Massey Hall in November 2023, celebrating the 45th anniversary of "The Last Waltz," the Martin Scorsese-directed film of the Band's final performance (at least in its original configuration). While all the members of the Band — Richard Manuel, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Levon Helm and (most recently) Garth Hudson — have now passed on, the stories, legend and community they created live on through the passion and energy of Chest Fever.
The core trio of Chest Fever — guitarist/singer Cervantes, keyboardist/singer Jody Bagley and bassist/singer Blake Dean — began playing the Band's music in 2017, but it was in 2022 that they received the official "stamp of approval" from Iconoclast, the Los Angeles-based company that had acquired the publishing rights to the music from Robertson, the Band's founding lead guitarist and main songwriter. He wrote or co-wrote most of the Band's songs, including "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".
Officials from Iconoclast, with Robertson's approval, suggested that the trio of Cervantes, Bagley and Dean start a group that only played the Band's music, and Chest Fever was born in the summer of '22.
"It's kind of a crazy world," Cervantes said. "We never really expected any of this. He (Robertson) was a part of this group, reaching out and getting behind us. And not in a million years did I ever think that he would be in our perimeter and know about us, but ever since 2022 we've had that blessing and that support. And just the fact that they've given us that green light and just been like, 'You guys are doing this from the right place' means a lot, you know, in a world where validation comes from the ability to continue to exist."
The last surviving member of the Band, Hudson, passed away earlier this year. Cervantes said Chest Fever will honor Hudson, the Band's keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist, on this tour the same way it did when Robertson died in 2023: by breathing new life into these classic songs.
"Every night we're honoring them as a collective whole, honoring what they did, playing their music and singing their songs," he said.
Cervantes said Chest Fever typically plays all of the Band's hits but throws in some deeper cuts as well. This time out, he said they will incorporate the song "Twilight" — "a great cut and a song that we've never played until this tour, and it's now going to probably be a staple of ours." He said Chest Fever will also play some of its favorite songs from the post-Robertson era of the Band (1983-99).
"The reason why we play this music is because there's a void or a vacuum that needs to be filled," Cervantes said. "And it's really up to the audience, because we really only can do this if people come out and go to shows. We're not going to exist if there isn't an audience that wants it, fans of the Band and that style. It's a chance to see a five-piece rock band that's bringing a real piano, a real Lowrey organ that's been restored to the specs and been customized with all the trinkets that Garth Hudson used. And getting to see five people play this music in that way, it's not something that you really get a chance to see that often.
"That's the reason why we do it," he said. "We want to give it as much of an opportunity as we can. And if the greater public wants to keep this alive, then it will be. That's the best we can deliver, and that's what we're going to do."
Chest Fever, the official revival of The Band, will perform at Nectar's in Burlington on Saturday, at the Stone Church in Brattleboro on Sunday, and at Fallout Shelter in Norwood, Mass. on Tuesday. Mrs. Henry will open each show with a set of original music.