Levon Helm has been a huge inspiration to me, for some 30 years. I am still learning guitar licks from his Dirt Farmer album. There will never be another Levon Helm. I'm sorry if my post is repetitive but I just wanted to lob one in.
Levon Helm: Ophelia, from the Last Waltz:
Bill,
I am glad that you brought it up again.
My last summer in Fayetteville ark in 1984, I got to see Levon and the Band perform. One of their mangers had passed away and they came to do a benefit for the family who lived in NW Ark. Levon was born and raised in Springdale Ar.
They played at a small and old roadhouse outside of town called the Club 53 West on hwy 52 west. The joint was packed and everyone was so very much happy and I was well lubricated along with everyone else. If the bar receipts went to the family, I believe it was a very successful night.
The Band was incredible and Levon soared above everyone on vocals and drums and it was loud. Everyone sang and danced. It was quite a celebration and one of the most memorable music events that I ever attended. They just laid it down.
When I first moved to Fayetteville, I use to go to his old 50’s motel on Hwy 71 in the middle of town and eat breakfast. It was called the Town House Motel and they had a great Arkie breakfasts and the counter waitress was fantastic and quite a character. She was Ronnie Hawkin’s sister. She told me a lot of stories about Ronnie and the Hawks , most of them unsolicited. After all, if Ronnie Hawkins hadn’t moved to Canada, there wouldn’t have been a band. Ronnie was from Huntsville Ar and that was wher I had my first survey gig.
But from that summer night in 1984, I was always happy to hear Levon on the radio and enjoyed his actng in various movies.
I saw him in the past year in a movie called In the Electric Mist. He played a ghost of a Confederate general who appears to the main character Dave Robichaux played by Tommy Lee Jones.It was quite eerie knowing that he has been ill. The movie is a post Katrina adaptation of a James Lee Burke novel.
The Hawks…. Levon on the left and Robbie Robertson on the right.
The Town House Motel now done and gone along with the Club 52 West I suppose.
Dont do it... great video and audio!!!
[flash width=420 height=315] http://www.youtube.com/v/HMXCM5TCrv8?version=3&hl=en_US [/flash]
My main band-mate "GT" hosts a radio show on KRCC radio in Colorado Springs on Saturday nights. His show has kind of an "oldies" theme, mostly showcasing songs from the 50's to 70's. This week, he says his show has kind of written itself, with the death of Dick Clark and Levon Helm. And the death of Greg Ham ("Men At Work" saxophonist and flautist) might also come into play... "Men At Work" were kind of at the cusp of what he usually plays on his show, hitting big in the early 80's. But having three prominent deaths in one week is not usual.
Although in my opinion, he could cover the entire two hours with nothing but Levon Helm (and his various bands) stuff...
Here's a nice remembrance of Levon I received in an email from Music Direct:
Heaven's Pearl: In Remembrance of Levon Helm
Levon Helm knew from a very young age that he wanted to be in the music business. At age 6, after seeing Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys onstage, the Arkansas native became addicted to all things music, soaking up as much as possible via listening to the Grand Ole Opry and other shows on Nashville's WLAC while growing up on a cotton farm. It didn't hurt that his parents loved music, and that his dad dabbled as an amateur musician that adored attending traveling shows.
A legend of Americana music and inimitable member of The Band, the multi-instrumentalist/singer/studio owner/producer saw his vision through until the end. According to "Esquire" writer Charles P. Piece, "he was the true Voice of America. He gave history a voice that we could all hear over the din of these times." A tireless performer up until weeks ago, and a repeat Grammy winner, Helm passed away Thursday at the age of 71 due to complications related to cancer.
Helm's unconventional career mirrors the sweeping cultural, social, and technological changes that impacted the United States during the 1940s through 1960s. After a stint in a high-school band, Helm relocated to Memphis following his witnessing a 1955 concert by Elvis Presley, who was backed by drummer D.J. Fontana. Stunned at the power, depth, and punch, he became infatuated with rock and roll. Helm initially connected with singer Conway Twitty and ultimately ran into fellow Arkansas native Ronnie Hawkins. A partnership was born that later led to the formation of The Band. With the Hawkins-led Hawks, Helm enjoyed two hits and appeared on "Dick Clark's American Bandstand."
Yet Helm and his newly recruited mates, which included Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson, were ready for more and tired of Hawkins' ways. Fortunately, Bob Dylan handpicked the Helm-anchored crew as his backing band during his infamous 1965 electric tour. However, discouraged by the audience's antagonistic reactions, Helm briefly quit and retreated to his home state for a two-year stretch before the newly christened The Band holed up in rural upstate New York and began to cut "Music From Big Pink." The record would change music forever.
A groundbreaking statement that lays bare the magnetism of the American South, Appalachian traditions, country-rock innovations, gospel spirituality, and folk customs, the 1968 LP presents an ageless combination of sound and lyricism that's never been duplicated. Helm's soulful voice is prominently heard on the most famous tune, the now-standard "The Weight," while his fundamental backbeats and sense of pace anchor every arrangement on the set. For the next eight years, the Band reigned as the preeminent Americana ensemble, with Helm assuming percussion duties on a majority of the songs and increasingly lending not only his influential narrative but his voice, often used in the group's sonorous harmonies, for lead roles once Richard Manuel's health began failing.
Demonstrating the skills of a true master, Helm also proved virtuosic on rhythm guitar, harmonica, mandolin (prominently experienced on "Evangeline"), 12-string guitar, and bass. Helm endured ups and downs with the Band, plagued by the addictions of his fellow mates, until the collective's much-ballyhooed grand finale, "The Last Waltz," in 1976, an event that Helm scorns in his 1993 autobiography "This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band."
Helm, however, didn't want for activity. He constructed a studio and barn in Woodstock, recorded Muddy Waters there, and saw the resultant LP score a Grammy. Three solo albums appeared by 1980, and Helm also turned to acting, playing Loretta Lynn's father in "Coal Miner's Daughter" and then appearing in "The Right Stuff," drawing acclaim for his realistic portrayals and sensitive approach. He continued acting for the remainder of his life.
He also became reacquainted with The Band, which reunited in 1983 and kept playing and recording, sans Robertson and the deceased Manuel, through 1998, at which time Helm became diagnosed with throat cancer and dealt with his hallmark Southern-accent singing nearly rendered mute. But Helm eventually beat the cancer and slowly regained a majority of his transparent tenor, inspiring him to begin the Midnight Ramble Sessions at his Woodstock studios. Honoring the traveling minstrel shows he encountered during his youth, the shows featured Helm and a revolving assortment of guests that have included Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, Steve Earle, Allen Toussaint, and many others.
The monthly rambles personified Helm's personality and professionalism: Intimate, generous, honest, dance-welcoming gatherings where friends and fun were prized above all else, the occasions punctuated by infectious passion, addictive joyousness, compelling storytelling, and generations-spanning audiences. Having regained much of his vocal-cord ability, Helm also began recording again, releasing two volumes of "The Midnight Ramble Music Sessions" in 2006 before unveiling his first studio album in more than two decades in 2007. "Dirt Farmer" earned a Grammy, as did its 2009 follow-up "Electric Dirt" and 2011's live "Ramble at the Ryman," a document of his Midnight Ramble project as captured at Nashville's iconic venue.
Helm's career had officially come full circle, drawing as much praise in the latter part of his life as he did while with the Hawks and The Band. Other considerable designations greeted his legacy: Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; being named by "Rolling Stone" as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time; standing as the subject of a documentary film ("Ain't In It for My Health"); cited as the honoree of multiple songs (Robert Earl Keen's "The Man Behind the Drums," Marc Cohn's "Listening to Levon," and, many years earlier, Elton John's "Levon").
Helm is survived by his wife and daughter, and, as importantly, a wealth of music and spirit that no cancer can ever terminate. Music Direct remembers this luminary and all of the timeless albums and songs he's left us. Memory serves us well.
more Levon: set it up on Pandora
This Levon Helm thread will fall into the depths of obscurity on BeerLeg soon, but for those of you who are still watching it: all of your comments and quotes and posts have been great. I reckon you're all huge Levon fans like me. Robt, I love that mid-60's pic you posted of The Hawks which also shows Richard Manuel and Rick Danko in between Levon and Robbie. None of them had reached their 20th birthday when that picture was taken.
Hey DWolfe, where you at in the North Cascades? I'm up there too, but on the dry side.
If ya'll are into Pandora and haven't done so already, set up a Levon Helm Radio station, and check out his music genome. Sit back and enjoy the ride. It goes all over the place but it's consistently and astonishingly good, and... "I predict yer gonna fall right in love with it".
That last is a Levon Helm quote. After listening to Levon on Pandora for an hour or so, if you have a guitar or mandolin somewhere in the house, and can play it, I thoroughly predict that you gonna pull it out from behind the couch, and get to work.
more Levon: set it up on Pandora
A great suggestion; thanks!
Ken
more Levon: set it up on Pandora
Bill,
I'm on the dry side as well, in-between Twisp & Winthrop. I've retraced some of your relatives (Dad?)work near Pateros.
Doug
Doug, you're up in the Methow Valley, init?
Yes you probably have retraced some stuff that my Dad and I did up there a long time ago. Hopefully it was useful and not too far off. We did the best we could up at the Maltais place coming down off the Loup Loup, and other places too, including down along the big river around Pateros and Brewster. Given the instruments we had at the time, which was mostly a 1908 Gurley mountain transit (which I still own) along with 100' and 200' steel chains, taping pins and machetes, we did the best we could and I hope it has been useful somehow. All of the drafting you see of those surveys in the records at the Okanogan County courthouse are by my hand. You probably got a lot of John Ayer's retracements under your belt too.
I finally upgraded technology for my Dad in the '80's. Topcon theodolite with attached Kern Red2L EDM. Then I ran the guns, and the old fella stepped out with the rod. His pace and estimation always came out to within a foot or two of where we needed to be, and he was always dead-straight, right on line.
You are a lucky one to be working in Twisp and Winthrop, WA. That valley is surely God's green acres.
And you are a Levon Helm fan. We need to catch up at the Twisp River Pub for some cider.
out,BC
Doug, you're up in the Methow Valley, init?
> We need to catch up at the Twisp River Pub for some cider.
>
> out,BC
You shoulda been there in 2004 for a Porter-gaf. You coulda seen RADU play the didgeridoo....o.O
Cheers,
Dugger
