Don’t mistake The Weight Band for a tribute act.

Yes, those who see the group when it opens for Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes on April 7 at the Robins Theatre probably will hear “Up on Cripple Creek,” “The Weight” and other popular songs by The Band. But The Weight Band has a lineage that traces back to that group.

Lead guitar player Jim Weider replaced Robbie Robertson when The Band reformed and started playing with original members Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel in 1985, touring and recording with group until 2000. Weider also co-wrote some of The Band songs that may turn up in next week’s set, like “Remedy,” the lead track from The Band’s 1993 album “Jericho.”

The Weight Band — Weider, guitar, mandolin and vocals; Michael Bram, drums and vocals; Brian Mitchell, keyboards and vocals; Matt Zeiner, keyboards and vocals; and Albert Rogers, bass and vocals — also isn’t content to live in the past. It has released two albums of original material, including “Shines Like Gold” in 2022.

Weider, a Woodstock, N.Y., native, said he started playing with Helm and his solo band in the mid ’80s when Weider moved back to the area where The Band recorded “Music from Big Pink.”

“I was kind of thrusted in there,” he said during a telephone interview. “I had been playing with Levon and his all-star band. I was playing a few Band tunes, some Arkansas blues tunes and country stuff. It was fun. It kind of morphed (when) people moved back to town. I started doing a couple of shows with Levon and Rick, and then Richard Manuel moved back to town and Garth.

“Once that happened, I was playing this country bar down here, same one I played with Levon, and they said,’We’re getting The Band back together,’ and they called me to sit in and play. I went down and played the whole night. They went on the road with another band, the Cate Brothers, and after about a week they decided to let them guys go and bring it back to five pieces.

“It was exciting for me. The first gig was in, I think, Dallas, Texas, with Crosby, Stills & Nash. It had to be, I don’t know, how many thousands of people. I would have to kick off (the songs). Most of the tunes start with a guitar part, like “It Makes No Difference” or “Walcott Medicine Show” or “Cripple Creek,” any one of those tunes there usually is a trademark guitar intro part. I had to learn all that stuff. … It was very exciting for me at that age to play for that many people. I’d gone from playing in bar bands to jumping on stage in front of 20,000 people.”

Manuel died by suicide on March 4, 1986, (a week after The Band played at the Front Row Theatre outside of Cleveland), but Weider continued to play with The Band until 2000, when it disbanded following the death of Danko.

During that time, Weider recorded three albums with The Band — “Jericho” (1993), “High on the Hog” (1996) and “Jubilation” (1999).

He shared songwriting credit on a few tracks with Helm, who complained in his autobiography, “This Wheel’s on Fire,” that he didn’t get credit for his contributions to many of those songs by The Band that were credited solely to Robertson.

“He (Helm )would come up with lines,” Weider said. “He would come up with funky lines like I’m sure he did with The Band. I definitely can say Robertson worked his ass off writing songs, because I know how hard it is. Levon would throw out an idea here and there. That’s how he liked to write.”

The Weight Band was born after Helm’s death in 2012. Weider had been playing in Helm’s band before he died, and he did some shows with Hudson and Jimmy Vivino (who played in Conan O’Brien’s band for his television show) as Songs of The Band after Helm’s death.

“We did two or three shows and it went over so well,” Weider said. “Then Garth did his thing with his wife, and Vivino went back to L.A. to Conan O’Brien’s show … I decided it’s going so well, maybe I’ll put this together myself. That’s kind of how it started. ”

He recruited Mitchell from Helm’s band and Randy Ciarlante, who played with The Band in the ’90s. The original lineup also included Byron Isaacs, who now plays with The Lumineers.

Among the current players, Baum spent seven years touring with Jason Mraz, and Zeiner was a long-time sideman with Dickey Betts, formerly of the Allman Brothers Band.

Writing original material to complement the classics of The Band was an early component of The Weight Band, but the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the creation of the band’s “Shines Like Gold” release, produced by Colin Linden, who has worked with such artists as Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams, Leon Redbone and Bob Dylan.

“I sat home during that whole pandemic and not being able to play for a year, I started writing,” Weider said. “It became easier and easier. I did it every day. I’d write the song, the lyrics and the music, then I’d send it down to Colin, because he was going to produce the album. ‘Hey Colin, do you want to add anything to this?,’ and it was fantastic.

“We have a writing thing together, we write really good together, so when I’d write something like ‘Tall Trees,’ I’d send it down. If you like it you can add something, and he seemed to like everything I sent down. Fantastic ideas. Just great to collaborate with him.”

Expect to hear some of the new songs alongside those Band classics at the Robins.

“We may throw in a Grateful Dead or Allman Brothers Band tune too,” Weider said. “We’ll give ’em a good, strong show.”

If you go …

WHO: Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes and The Weight Band

WHEN: 8 p.m. April 7

WHERE: Robins Theatre, 160 E. Market St., Warren

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $35 to $85 and are available at the Robins box office and online at

robinstheatre.com.