Levon Helm

  • Marvell, AR
    hometown
  • Rock
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  • 1957
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About Levon Helm


The longtime drummer for the Band, Levon Helm wore many musical hats throughout his long career, including multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, impresario, studio owner, studio engineer, and producer. He grew up working on a farm in Arkansas; his first instrument was guitar, which he began playing at age eight, but after seeing the F.S. Walcott Rabbits Foot Minstrels, he decided to switch to drums. As a youth, Helm listened to the music of the area, including radio broadcasts of The Grand Ole Opry and the blues and R&B shows on WLAC, a clear-channel station out of Nashville that became legendary in the development of R&B and early rock & roll. Accompanied by his sister Linda on washtub bass, he played various fairs and civic club shows until forming his first group, the Jungle Bush Beaters, while in high school.

After seeing an Elvis Presley concert, Helm became keenly interested in rock & roll and musicians like Bo Diddley. Eventually, he moved to Memphis, where he began sitting in with Conway Twitty. Later, he was discovered by a fellow Arkansan, rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins, who asked the 17-year-old Helm to join the Hawks, his backing band. The group soon relocated to Toronto, where they'd heard there was a burgeoning scene for their kind of music. In 1959, Hawkins signed to Roulette Records, where he and the Hawks cut a pair of hit records right out of the gate with "Forty Days" and "Mary Lou," which went on to sell in excess of 700,000 copies.

In the early '60s in Toronto, Helm and Hawkins recruited the rest of the members of the group that would become the Band, adding guitarist Robbie Robertson, pianist Richard Manuel, organist Garth Hudson, and bassist Rick Danko to the lineup. After numerous road trips with Hawkins, the group grew tired of the singer's abrasive manner, and they re-formed as Levon & the Hawks, later changing their name to the Canadian Squires for the purpose of recording two singles. Shortly after, they changed their name back to the Hawks. In the mid-'60s, Bob Dylan decided to electrify his sound and wanted the Hawks to be his backing band. After putting up with too many boos at Dylan's newly electrified shows in 1965, Helm decided he'd had enough, and went back to Arkansas, thinking he would leave the music business behind him forever.

But Helm returned to action in mid-1967, when the Hawks (since renamed simply the Band) began working on Music from Big Pink, the first in a string of classic records that made them one of rock's most legendary acts. After the Band's famed 1976 farewell performance, dubbed The Last Waltz, he cut his 1977 debut solo album, Levon Helm & the RCO All Stars, followed a year later by his self-titled sophomore effort. In 1980 he recorded American Son, while another eponymously titled effort was released in 1982. The Band re-formed in 1983 without Robertson; following Manuel's 1986 suicide, the remaining trio released 1993's Jericho, recorded at Helm's home studio in Woodstock, New York. That same year, Helm published his autobiography, This Wheel's on Fire, co-authored with Stephen Davis. The Band's bluesy High on the Hog followed in 1995. The late '90s (and into the next decade) found Helm still making music in a new blues band called Levon Helm & the Barn Burners, with his daughter Amy on keyboards and vocals, guitarist Pat O'Shea, lead vocalist and harmonica player Chris O'Leary, and upright bassist Frankie Ingrao, and with a similar outfit called Crowmatrix. An album of tracks from this era called Souvenir, Vol. 1 appeared in 2000 from Breeze Hill.

Cancer of the vocal cords silenced Helm's unique voice as the 21st century opened, although he kept up his drumming duties, and in time was able to sing again, emerging with a slightly raspier version of his old vocal style. He began holding intimate concerts with various musical friends at his studio in Woodstock, calling them Midnight Rambles, samples of which were released as The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 1 and The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 2 in 2006. The following year saw the release of Dirt Farmer, Helm's first solo album in 25 years. The similar but looser Electric Dirt followed in 2009. Ramble at the Ryman, which captured highlights of Helm's 2008 Midnight Ramble concert at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, was released on both CD and DVD in 2011. In spring of the following year, Helm's family announced that he was in the end stages of cancer, and he died on April 19, 2012. The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 3 was released the following December. ~ Richard Skelly, Rovi

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Music

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    • Tennessee Jed
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    • Poor Old Dirt Farmer
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g1/5/4/3/4/7/105874345.mp3
    • Anna Lee
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g1/2/4/2/4/7/105874242.mp3
    • This Wheel's on Fire (with Shawn Pelton)
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g1/8/7/7/1/0/981401778.mp3
    • A Train Robbery
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g1/9/8/0/5/7/105875089.mp3
    • Growing Trade
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g1/8/0/0/4/7/182574008.mp3

Photos

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  • Levon Helm
  • Levon Helm
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    Levon Helm
    Levon Helm
  • Vince Gill (left), Rodney Crowell and Levon Helm perform at the All for the Hall benefit at Nokia Theatre in New York City on Oct. 15, 2008.
    Levon Helm
    Vince Gill (left), Rodney Crowell and Levon Helm perform at the All for the Hall benefit at Nokia Theatre in New York City on Oct. 15, 2008.
    Donn Jones
  • MSS/Capitol
    Levon Helm
    MSS/Capitol
    Chris Callis

News

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  • Levon Helm
    Robbie Robertson 'So Saddened' Over Levon Helm Illness | Billboard.com
    www.billboard.com
    With news breaking on Tuesday that Levon Helm is in "the final stages of his battle with cancer," he's receiving words of support from a pair of his B...
    Read More
  • Levon Helm
    R.I.P. Levon Helm
    www.pitchfork.com
    The Hudson Valley newspaper the Times Herald Record (via Spinner) reports that Levon Helm, the drummer/vocalist for the Band, has died after a long ba...
    Read More
  • Levon Helm
    R.I.P. Levon Helm
    stereogum.com
    Rolling Stone reports that Levon Helm, the great Americana drummer and singer, has died in New York, a few days after his family posted a statement th...
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  • Levon Helm
    Levon Helm of The Band Is Dead at 71 | Billboard.com
    www.billboard.com
    Levon Helm, a passionate musician, actor and the last surviving lead singer of The Band, whose Southern tenor was heard on the group's classic songs "...
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  • Levon Helm
    Appreciation: The Miracle of Levon Helm | Billboard.com
    www.billboard.com
    Some concerts stick with you when you wonder if it's the last time you'll ever see a particular performer. Levon Helm was a mystery that way. He took ...
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  • Levon Helm
    Watch: Bon Iver's Cover Of 'Ophelia' Paying Tribute To Levon Helm | Prefix
    www.prefixmag.com
    Tweet Playing in San Francisco last night, Bon Iver paid tribute to Levon Helm, who died of throat cancer yesterday. To mark his passing they covered ...
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  • Levon Helm
    At Levon Helm's Barn, Fans and Friends Say Goodbye | Billboard.com
    www.billboard.com
    Fans poured into Levon Helm's barn and concert space in Woodstock, N.Y., Thursday to pay tribute to the late drummer, mandolinist and songwriter who d...
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  • Levon Helm
    New Amnesty International Commemorative Track Features Late Levon Helm
    Paste
    One of the last tracks the late Levon Helm appeared on is set to be released on May 8 as a tribute to Amnesty International. The track celebrates the ...
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  • Levon Helm
    Roger Waters and My Morning Jacket Cover The Band at Levon Helm Benefit
    Paste
    A bevy of iconic musical acts assembled on Wednesday night at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., to pay tribute to the late Levon Helm, the leg...
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  • Levon Helm
    Levon Helm's Last Years Captured in 'Ain't in It for My Health'
    music.yahoo.com
    Related ContentView Photo Levon Helm's Last Years Captured in 'Ain't in It for My Health' One night in August 2008, Levon Helm sat in his kitchen in W...
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Discography

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  • The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 3 (2012)
    Levon Helm
    The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 3 (2012)
    Vanguard
  • Ramble at the Ryman (2011)
    Levon Helm
    Ramble at the Ryman (2011)
    Welk
  • Electric Dirt (2009)
    Levon Helm
    Electric Dirt (2009)
    Vanguard
  • Dirt Farmer (2007)
    Levon Helm
    Dirt Farmer (2007)
    Vanguard
  • Spend It All (2006)
    Levon Helm
    Spend It All (2006)
    Crooked Root Records
  • Live at the Palladium NYC, New Years Eve 1977 (2006)
    Levon Helm
    Live at the Palladium NYC, New Years Eve 1977 (2006)
    Levon Helm Studios
  • The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 2 (2006)
    Levon Helm
    The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 2 (2006)
    Levon Helm Studios
  • The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 1 (2006)
    Levon Helm
    The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 1 (2006)
    Levon Helm Studios
  • Souvenir, Vol. 1 (2000)
    Levon Helm
    Souvenir, Vol. 1 (2000)
    Breeze Hill Records
  • Levon Helm [1982] (1982)
    Levon Helm
    Levon Helm [1982] (1982)
    Edsel - (UK)
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