[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.”]
A proud native of Arkansas, Levon Helm put the American, not to forget the Southern, in The Band’s bespoke proto-Americana! As the sole true rocker amongst The Band’s three main, incredibly distinctive vocalists (the late Richard Manuel and the late Rick Danko were the others), Levon carried enormous responsibility in helping to establish the group as one of the mainstays of what’s now thought of as The Classic Rock Era.
Their first two albums (MUSIC FROM BIG PINK & THE BAND, 1968-69), along with Bob Dylan’s post-motorcycle accident records (JOHN WESLEY HARDING & NASHVILLE SKYLINE) and The Byrds’ NOTORIOUS BYRD BROTHERS & SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO, brought popular music back from the increasingly pompous and silly precipice of rampant Psychedelia, though even those justly-celebrated albums fall short of the majesty and sheer command of the initial two Band landmarks!
Eric Clapton later claimed that Cream had to break up once he’d heard BIG PINK, and Beatle George Harrison, among many others, was similarly gobsmacked by the sense of “realness” exemplified by the sudden emergence of this Canadian/American band from Woodstock, New York, who just as plausibly seemed to come from nowhere!
Time and time again songwriter/guitarist Robbie Robertson deployed Levon’s spirited “Cracker credibility”—his startling warmth, frequent bemusement, stubborn force, and resigned vulnerability—in service of his own literary ambitions, in songs that might have seemed more than faintly ludicrous being sung through any other available larynx.
What other singer of The Sixties or early-Seventies could have brought home the deathless opening lines of such stunning songs of American Myth and History?!
“I pulled into Nazareth…” (“The Weight”)
“When I get off of this mountain…” (“Up on Cripple Creek”)
And especially,
“Virgil Caine is the name…” (“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”)
As a legendary drummer, Levon provided a huge, unadorned (though frequently intricate) BEAT that still startles to Bob Dylan’s electric breakout during 1965, in addition to The Band’s landmark 1974 tour backing Dylan’s live return after nearly eight years away from the spotlight. The resultant 2LP live collaboration, BEFORE THE FLOOD (1974), stands among the handful of most remarkable live albums ever made, with Levon the absolute rock at the center of the storm!
On my own favorite amongst The Band’s many wonderful studio recordings, Helm’s snare drum explodes like THE BACKBEAT OF GOD on the stupefying “Chest Fever”, in thrilling tandem with Garth Hudson’s most elaborate organ showcase and a true Riff of Doom, the group’s trademark vocal trade-offs never more impassioned or beguilingly mysterious!
Anyone desiring a master class in funky rock drumming should start there, then proceed on a tour through the group’s first three studio albums (BIG PINK, THE BAND & STAGE FRIGHT, from 1968-70). And both ROCK OF AGES (1972) and the aforementioned BTF, in addition to the recently-upgraded dvd version of THE LAST WALTZ, Martin Scorsese’s 1978 love note to the passing of both The Band and The Classic Rock Era (whether he or The Band knew it or not!), amply showcase the passion and electricity that emanated from Levon Helm on stage, even when he was delicately picking a mandolin!
That great film infamously showcased Robbie Robertson’s own auteurist agenda, but as discerning critics pointed out at the time, the sole member of The Band to whom Robertson notably deferred on camera was Levon, whose riveting storytelling thereby stole the show, in certain respects. I think Robbie was also well aware that his skinny drummer could (and would) kick his damned ass otherwise!
Post-The Band, Helm pursued a lengthy, reasonably successful acting career, with 1978’s COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER a fine showcase for his performance as Loretta Lynn’s father.
As a solo artist he had his ups and downs, following nearly two decades spent in close collaboration with the same four guys, but his three most recent albums (DIRT FARMER, ELECTRIC DIRT & RAMBLE AT THE RYMAN, 2007-11) were all Grammy winners in either Folk or Americana, all courageously realized after the cancer that killed him had stolen, for a time, his inimitable voice.
The Band eventually regrouped, sans Robertson, and later sans Manuel, for several perfectly honorable albums and tours during the Eighties and Nineties, which certainly demonstrated that theirs had been a truly collective achievement, which could be extended even in the absence of their chief songwriters.
Perhaps nothing better captures Levon Helm’s wit and humility than his signature interview clip from THE LAST WALTZ, starting at 7:45 and extending to the 9:00 mark—
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6hDCT0brQA
I’m very saddened to hear of Levon’s death, but forever inspired by the sheer guts and immense talent displayed across his 71 years on the sphere!
May millions more discover his accomplishments in the decades to come, and may those of us who venerate them draw further sustenance along the way.
–Tom Kipp
– Words of tribute to Levon Helm have come in to East Portland Blog from musicians, writers and fans across the world. Click here to read them.
