[Update 4/19/2012 – On his website, the family of Levon Helm has announced, “Levon Helm passed peacefully this afternoon. He was surrounded by family, friends and band mates and will be remembered by all he touched as a brilliant musician and a beautiful soul.” The material below was posted earlier in the week, prior to Helm’s passing.]
In old-time Christian circles, one way of announcing to the community that death was imminent was to say, “the family has been called together,” as in, “please pray for so and so… the family has been called together.” This meant that everyone was saying their very last goodbyes and perhaps putting to rest any old disagreements.
This appears to have happened among Levon Helm’s extended family of musicians. Earlier this week, Helm’s daughter announced that her father was “in the final stages of his battle with cancer.” Today, Robbie Robertson—Helm’s bandmate in the famed, almost literally classic, rock combo, The Band—announced that he had visited Helm’s hospital room by posting the following on his Facebook page:
“Last week I was shocked and so saddened to hear that my old band mate, Levon, was in the final stages of his battle with cancer. It hit me really hard because I thought he had beaten throat cancer and had no idea that he was this ill. I spoke with his family and made arrangements to go and see him.
On Sunday I went to New York and visited him in the hospital. I sat with Levon for a good while…, and thought of the incredible and beautiful times we had together. It was heartwarming to be greeted by his lovely daughter Amy, whom I have known since she was born. Amy’s mother, Libby Titus, and her husband, Donald Fagen, were so kind to help walk me through this terrible time of sadness. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Sandy.
Levon is one of the most extraordinary talented people I’ve ever known and very much like an older brother to me. I am so grateful I got to see him one last time and will miss him and love him forever.”
– Robbie Robertson
For many years prior to this hospital meeting, Helms and Robertson had refused to speak with each and had been embroiled in a disagreement over songwriting credits.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, words of tribute to Levon Helm have come in to East Portland Blog from musicians, writers and fans across the world:
i’ve had a lot of great drummers over the years. i’ve played with one of john coltrane’s drummers. but prolly the best drummer i’ve had — a man named tim welch — based his whole style pretty much around the levon helm model. it’s a southern thing, playing around with the upbeat and the downbeat without changing the tempo too much.
– Paul K
Levon was the epitome of what today some folks call Americana but I like to call rock and roll. He was a lot of tough blues mixed with wild rockabilly, soulful folk/country and transcendental gospel. A damn funky drummer and a damn amazing singer, Levon was a true rare individual whose likes we won’t see again. A sad loss for all of us.
– Dave Alvin
Levon has that positiveness and genuineness, that if you were to describe the ideal American personality, there it is.
– Ken Stringfellow
Levon’s drumming was always vastly underrated, but his singing had such distinction, and emotional depth, that it immediately evokes an era, a time, and a place.
– Charles R. Cross
It’s sad to hear about this. The Band was one of the most underrated rock bands in music history. They not only had a big influence on southern tinged rock in the 70’s, but on the new wave of bluesy-alt rock, many of which probably unaware they’ve been indirectly influenced by the Band.
– Graig Markel
This is very sad news. Levon’s voice and drumming are elemental. They are an American landscape in and of themselves. Helm was the rock on which The Band was built and without The Band modern American music would sound very, very different.
– Chris Eckman
i feel like the music he created is part of my dna….his music, his voice, and that of “the band” made me want to play music, but more importantly made me fall in love with music. it’s so sad to hear this news…so sad. he also sounds like he was a class act as a human. just so sorry for his family and close friends who will have to endure his loss first hand. i never know what to say in these cases….he was unique, and the words won’t do justice i’m afraid…
– Jesse Sykes
I was lucky enough to see Levon play with the band at Wembley in 1974. A great musician, great singer who’s always brought warmth of every piece of music he played. He did work with the late John Martyn, one of my heroes, starting in ’69 and also toward the end of John’s life. A Southern man with the heart and soul of a lion.
– Chris Nickson
A singer has to dominate an audience’s dramatic attention, while a drummer must provide the rhythmic foundation for the whole ensemble. You hardly ever see anyone attempt to fill both of these crucial roles at the same time, and for him to have delivered vocal and drum performances filled with such emotional power and rhythmic nuance is rather mind-blowing.
– Jacob Slichter
Sad news… I first heard Levon on a post The Band record called Levon Helm and the RSO All-stars. I listened over and over again.
– John Munson
Resquiescat Levon Helm. Whatever he did felt like him.
– Tim Midgett
Well he just passed. Which is a shame, but he had a great life of music and the joy he channeled through it lifted a lot of people’s spirits. I love the period where he and the Hawks backed Dylan, but I always remember his line about why he left in the middle of the tour in late 1965, “I wasn’t made to be booed.”
– Daniel Saul Housman
It pains me that we are losing someone as pure as Levon. His is the forgotten voice of America; unvarnished, natural, friendly and, let’s get real, un-auto tuned. I play “The Weight” all the time at weddings & parties and the song brings complete strangers together, happily singing along. They don’t know the Band or Levon. The songs are his legacy & I will keep playing them. Thanks Levon!
– Rick Friel
Levon Helm was a big influence on my playing from the way I play the hi-hat to the drum fills I do. Every drummer should listen to “Cripple Creek” and “The Weight,” not to mention his incredible singing! Thank you LEVON !!
– Chris Friel
Well, what can I say about Levon ? He’s totally awesome. He’s the American Charlie Watts and so much more . He was the glue for the Band (one of the greatest bands of all time of course, but everyone knows that.) A super-genius talented multi-instrumentalist and wonderful singer. Blessings all on for Mr. Helm, and thank you sir for all that you gave us.
– John Bosch
I was always impressed with Levon’s voice and drumming. Watch any old footage of The Band, he sang and played drums so natural and effortless. Tasteful drum fills and I loved that he played that old wooden drum kit. One of the first drummers to play a vintage kit in the era of everybody having big “flashy” drum kits. A true pioneer.
– Brad Elvis
I grew up with a copy of the Last Waltz on betamax and The Basement Tapes on vinyl. When kids in school talked about singing drummers they usually meant Neil Peart. But I was a throwback so in my mind it was always Levon Helm. As a displaced southerner myself, some part of me was just glad to hear his voice.
– Vanessa Veselka
All my life I’ve refused to play with drummers who don’t know Levon’s work. Much love and respect to this fitful genius. Young ones, take note: to play his parts is to be part of history, and strengthen your backbone for the long haul.
– Alicia Dara
I was never into the Band, but I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first saw Helms, their singing drummer. I was playing drums at the time and tried to do the same. I just couldn’t pull it off. So just for that, he earned my immediate respect.
– Igor Keller
wow. i am stunned by this news. i saw the band every chance i got. saw them with dylan 2 nights, and also on their last tour as the band, and the follow up tour without robbie robertson. although i never got a chance to meet him i saw him perform and i can tell you he gave 100 percent every night. his voice, and especially his songwriting was inspiring and influenced much of the direction that i would take musically. i am greatly saddened by his death. oh man.
For me, Levon Helm was the heart of The Band. He brought a joyful noise in the form of his soulful singing and economical drumming, country and funky, heartfelt and smiling even when delivering a sorrowful tale. He was one of a kind, and a class act all the way.
– Christian Fulghum
For as much he rightfully received endless accolades with the Band and Dylan, I was always taken by his work with Ronnie Hawkins, “Mary Lou” still sends chills down my spine. Formative.
– Mike Nipper
I still remember the issue of “EYE” magazine (a serious-but-short-lived, pre-Rolling Stone entry into rock journalism) in which the magazine’s critics listed The Band as “The Best Band of the Year.” It was one of the rare times during the Sixties when the Beatles didn’t top the list. I don’t remember what year that was (1968?), but my initial response was: “Who? The Band? That’s their name?” I thought it was a joke. But, obviously, the critics knew something that most fans didn’t. And while The Band never became a huge commercial success, none can deny their influence. The whole genre now referred to as Americana (or, worse: alt-country) wouldn’t exist in quite the same way if not for The Band.
–Rich Horton
The Band was simply and indisputably one of the most influential groups of all time. Helm and the Band were the paradigm for the current multi-instrumentalist lineup that’s popular today. No Band, no Fleet Foxes or hundreds of other acts in their wake over the past 40-plus years. They took folk, country, rock and the blues to grand, unprecedented, electrified heights — and Helm was a major force behind this. Levon Helm was the outfit’s glue and the most compelling voice. Elton John named a song after him.
– Steve Stav
The Band was one of my favorite bands ever- such outstanding individual musicians with distinctive broad talents who came together so effectively. Levon will be missed!
– David Erickson-Pearson
It was heartening to see Robbie Robertson’s Facebook page on Wednesday. He updated his cover photo to show himself and Levon Helm performing side by side so long ago. Robertson wrote that he went to see Helm on Sunday and spent “a good while” visiting Helm in the hospital.
“Levon is one of the most extraordinary talented people I’ve ever known and very much like an older brother to me,” Robertson said. “I am so grateful I got to see him one last time and will miss him and love him forever.”
Their falling out after The Band’s 1977 Last Waltz is well known. In a 1998 interview with Offbeat magazine, Helm complained that Robertson and businessman Albert Grossman had been “doing all the publishing.”
“He and Albert get all the money,” Helm said, “and the rest of us get all the leftovers, and he was supposed to be one of us, and was.”
After all these years, perhaps the two bandmates finally patched things up. I’m not sure we’ll ever know.
The other surviving member of The Band, Garth Hudson, said on his website earlier this week, “I am too sad for words right now. Please continue praying for Levon and family.”
Here’s a link to that Offbeat magazine interview with Levon Helm:
http://theband.hiof.no/articles/interview_levon_offbeat_dec98.html
– Randy Rendfield
No doubt The Band was a greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts type of outfit. Separate they were five guys with a whole lot of talent, but together they were a Band of uncommon abilities. And Levon. Levon’s voice and playing were as honest and uncompromising as the dirt he knew as home. I will miss him, but his music will live longer than I do.
– Ron Swanson
Levon himself said, ““The way to do it is to put as much life into the song as I can. You can either get it to breathe or you can’t.” I came to Levon Helms late in life. I was never a big fan of The Band, but what I noticed about Helms, is that he was cut from the same mold as Ringo Starr – No, not stylistically, but for his contribution. His drumming was always for the good of the song. There were no great, long solos – just concise, to the point, no nonsense drumming that could lift any song to its full potential. I’ve always felt without Levon Helms, The Band would be… just another band.
– Eduard P. Gomez
Paste Magazine has a fine feature called, 54 Musicians Remember Levon Helm, which includes comments from Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and others. Cameron Crowe has an especially poetic quote there, “Levon wears his war wound like a crown…” from the Elton John tune, “Levon.”
