<P> `` The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down '' is a song written by Robbie Robertson and originally recorded by the Canadian roots rock group the Band in 1969 and released on their eponymous second album . Levon Helm provided the lead vocals . The song is a first - person narrative relating the economic and social distress experienced by the protagonist , a poor white Southerner , during the last year of the American Civil War , when George Stoneman was raiding southwest Virginia . Frequently appearing on lists of the best rock songs of all time , it has been cited as an early example of the genre known as roots rock . </P>
<P> `` The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down '' is a song written by Robbie Robertson and originally recorded by the Canadian roots rock group the Band in 1969 and released on their eponymous second album . Levon Helm provided the lead vocals . The song is a first - person narrative relating the economic and social distress experienced by the protagonist , a poor white Southerner , during the last year of the American Civil War , when George Stoneman was raiding southwest Virginia . Frequently appearing on lists of the best rock songs of all time , it has been cited as an early example of the genre known as roots rock . </P>
who sings the song the night they drove old dixie down
who sings the song the night they drove old dixie down
the Canadian roots rock group the Band
the Canadian roots rock group the Band