Robbie Robertson salutes Allman Brothers for band cover

Robbie Robertson is singing the praises of the Allman Brothers Band and their cover of a classic Band song. The Allmans are one of the acts featured on a record titled Endless Highway: The Music Of The Band, which comes out Tuesday (January 30th). The Allman Brothers did a version of the 1969 Band song "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," and Robertson, who wrote the song, told Paste magazine, "Listening to the Allmans' version, it's like you could pull over at some roadhouse, hear them playing it, and it would fit perfectly."

The Allman Brothers played "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" many times on their 2004 and 2005 tours.

Robertson also had nice things to say about some of the modern rock acts on the album, including My Morning Jacket and Death Cab For Cutie.

My Morning Jacket covered "It Makes No Difference," and Robertson said, "Nobody will ever sing that song as good as (the Band's singer-bassist) Rick Danko, but there's a beautiful sadness to their vocal. If you're going to sing that song, you better do it soulfully, and they did."

Death Cab For Cutie did "Rockin' Chair," and Robertson said, "This was one of the biggest surprises to me. If someone asked me if I could imagine them doing this song, I would have said no. Some of this material is like a wardrobe -- some people put it on and it just doesn't work. The fact that they could put on this wardrobe and pull it off caught me off guard."

Other artists on Endless Highway: The Music Of The Band include Gov't Mule doing "The Shape I'm In," Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers on "King Harvest," Blues Traveler on "Rag Mama Rag," and country star Lee Ann Womack on "The Weight."
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