A Drummer Who Could Make You Cry: The Genius of The Band's Levon Helm

[EFerrari]

Allen St. John, Contributor
4/17/2012 @ 11:02PM

“Levon Helm is the only drummer who can make you cry,” wrote critic Jon Carroll.



There’s reason for a few tears today. Helm, the final remaining vocalist of The Band, is battling the final stages of cancer. Helm had been ill with throat cancer for more than a decade, which robbed him of his evocative voice for years. His return to singing was both a personal and artistic triumph; his 2007 album Dirt Farmer, and its follow-up Electric Dirt, both won Grammys. The group’s other vocalists were pianist Richard Manuel, who committed suicide in 1986, and bassist Rick Danko, who died of heart failure at age 56 in 1999.

The Band got its start as The Hawks, backing up proto-rocker Ronnie Hawkins, (Helm called them “the wildest, fiercest, speed driven bar band in America”) but got their commercial break backing up Bob Dylan when he went electric in the mid 1960s. Their first two albums, Music From Big Pink and The Band had rough-hewn, rootsy quality that ran counter to the trendy, psychedelic sounds of the day. Greil Marcus’ essay about those albums in his book Mystery Train remains one of the greatest pieces of rock criticism ever.

To understand Helm’s greatness, pull out either of those two classic records. Or better still, watch this fascinating clip that dissects tracks from that self-titled “Brown Album.” While the whole thing’s well worth watching, at 3:10, Helm begins a detailed explanation of how he made the near-impossible feat of singing and playing the drums sound easy. At around 7:3o he explains how The Band pieced together their intricate harmonies.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/allenstjohn/2012/04/17/a-drummer-who-could-make-you-cry-the-genius-of-the-bands-levon-helm/

[AzDar]

1. I worship at the altar of Levon. I wish him a safe journey...but it still breaks my heart.

[EFerrari]

2. Levon Helm Ramble At The Ryman 'Ophelia' on PBS YouTube

The Band - The Weight

&feature=fvwrel

[monmouth]

4. Glorious!...n/t

[wilt the stilt]

3. I was lucky enough to see them multiple times

once with the Dead in Roosevelt stadium and another with Clapton in Buffalo and once after Robbie Robertson left in Atlanta. they outplayed both the Dead and Clapton..

[EFerrari]

5. Levon Helm and the Great River of American Music

By Mark Salter

The whole congregation was standing

On the banks of the river

We are gathered here

To give a little thanks thanks

-- “The River Hymn” by The Band

The town where I grew up, on a bend in the Mississippi River, has a long, rich musical history. Early in the last century, riverboats brought jazz and blues upriver from New Orleans, the Delta, Memphis, St. Louis, stopped in the Quad Cities, where I’m from, and livened up the local musical scene. It’s stayed lively ever since.

Bix Beiderbecke, a high school friend of my grandfather’s, heard Louis Armstrong blow his horn on a riverboat, picked up a cornet of his own and learned to play. Davenport, on the west bank of the river, was the most staid of the four cities, so the best musicians gravitated to the east bank, to Rock Island, with its more colorful reputation. Every summer, Davenport hosts a popular Dixieland jazz festival named for Bix in a downtown park with an old-fashioned band shell that’s been there as long as I can remember. After the festival wraps up each night, musicians still head over to the saloons of Rock Island to sit in with the locals.

I spent a lot of Sundays in that park. The local music scene was the habitat of my youth. My friends were all musicians or devoted enthusiasts of Chicago blues and rockabilly and that British blues hybrid (three chords, long solos, and a cloud of smoke) imported, run through a stack of Marshall amps, and exported back to America by its avid disciples in England. We were obsessed with music. It’s all we cared about. It’s all we did. I don’t play any instrument, but to this day I can tell the difference between the sounds of a Fender Telecaster and a Fender Stratocaster.

I had friends in a lot of bands, and in one band in particular. My friend, Pat, who started and led the group, had the keys to the band shell. And in warm months we’d all head to the park on Sunday afternoons, and listen to the boys play for free on the bank of that wide, brown river that runs too fast to swim across on its snaky way to the sea.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/04/19/levon_helm_and_the_great_river_of_american_music.html


Listen to Levon Helm's Finest Moments: From 'The Weight' to 'Atlantic City'
Eighteen tracks from the Band co-founder's incredible career

By Andy Greene
April 17, 2012 6:05 PM ET

The devastating news that Levon Helm is in the final stages of his fight against cancer has sent us all to our record collections to reflect on his incredible legacy. Here's a Spotify playlist of Levon's finest moments, from his days in the Band through his recent solo albums. We could easily do a whole other list of his greatest drumming moments, but this list is focused on his singing – though he also plays drums on almost every single one of these songs.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/listen-to-levon-helms-finest-moments-from-the-weight-to-atlantic-city-20120417#ixzz1sUhWylkn

[EFerrari]

6. Oh, dear. AP obit.

Levon Helm of The Band dies at 71

By Michael Hill

Associated Press
Posted: 04/19/2012 12:49:59 PM PDT
April 19, 2012 7:58 PM GMTUpdated: 04/19/2012 12:58:54 PM PDT

ALBANY, N.Y. -- With songs like "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "The Weight" and "Up on Cripple Creek," The Band fused rock, blues, folk and gospel to create a sound that seemed as authentically American as a Mathew Brady photograph or a Mark Twain short story.

In truth, the group had only one American -- Levon Helm.

Helm, the drummer and singer who brought an urgent beat and a genuine Arkansas twang to some of The Band's best-known songs and helped turn a bunch of musicians known mostly as Bob Dylan's backup group into one of rock's most legendary acts, has died. He was 71.

Helm, who was found to have throat cancer in 1998, died Thursday afternoon, according to his website. On Tuesday, a message on the site said he was in the final stages of cancer.

http://www.mercurynews.com/music/ci_20434840/levon-helm-band-dies-at-71