Rock Drummer Levon Helm at 71
Performed at Mass MoCA's Solid Sound Festival
By: Charles Giuliano - Apr 19, 2012
Last summer Levon Helm fronted a big band delivering a two hour concert that anchored the Sunday afternoon of the weekend long Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA. Members of Wilco joined him for an epic performance of The Band's standard "I Shall Be Released."
The legendary drummer who died today was born on May 26, 1940. He was 71.
Helm’s classics with The Band included "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "Up on Cripple Creek," "Rag Mama Rag," and "The Weight." Prior to the Berkshire performance he had fought throat cancer to which he has now succumbed. He underwent 28 radiation treatments, eventually recovering his voice.
Performing at Mass MoCA, up close from the photo pit in front of the stage, Helm appeared thin and worn but firm and strong laying down a driving beat. Considering what he had been through he sang with force and power bringing thrills to older members of the audience as he worked through the signature slides and slurs of a rock classic “The Weight.”
It signified the gravitas that he brought to one of the most diverse, gifted and underappreciated rock bands of the era. Until they hit the road and toured with a dash of trepidation they were the backup group for Dylan recuperating in Woodstock from a motorcycle accident.
He proved to be the only American in a group that included Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson. He and Robertson had been brothers until a split that occurred during the filming of what is regarded as one of the great rock concert epics Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Waltz.”
After years of not speaking there was a death bed reconciliation between the two musicians. A superb studio musician Robertson suffered from stage freight which became the theme of one of his signature songs.
The Band broke up in 1976 after completing the Scorsese film. Helm then formed Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars with Dr. John, Steve Cropper, and Booker T. Jones. Helm acted in 1980's Coal Miner's Daughter, playing Loretta Lynn (Sissy Spacek's) father. Minus Robertson with Helm, Danko, Manuel, and Hudson the Band reformed in the early Eighties. They recorded three albums but never recovered their prior success.
The new version of The Band was struck by tragedy. Manuel took his life in 1986 and Danko died in 1999. Then Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer.
After his recovery, he staged informal concerts in a barn and studio in Woodstock. The "Midnight Rambles" included Helm and Elvis Costello, Natalie Merchant, the Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh, and Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen. The Ramble shows produced two solo albums – 2007's Dirt Farmer, which won a Grammy in the Best Traditional Folk category, and 2009's Electric Dirt, which also earned a Grammy.
In 1994 The Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.