Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Levon Helm

Former vocalist and drummer for the Band, Levon Helm has a new album out and it's called Dirt Farmer. It is just amazing. His voice has aged well and the band he has surrounded himself with is just stellar and it has an old timey feel to it that is mesmerizing. You can read about the album on Helm's website here. You can listen to a cut called The Mountain just below. It's a Steve Earle song.

The Mountain - Levon Helm

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The Band would have sucked without Helm. (The only American in the group, I think)

Jim said...

The Band would never have sucked under any condition. Without Robertson, they would hardly have had any songs to sing, let alone a lead guitar. Without Danko and Manuel, they wouldn't have had two thirds of the voice that made them what they were, and without Garth Hudson, they couldn't have existed.
Each member of that ensemble contributed in a vital way to making them the greatest rock band in history. Ironically, the one person they might have done without WAS Helm. And I have paid 300 bucks to see him in Woodstock near the end of September; so it ain't like I'm not a heavy fan of his.

Ed, you may have recognised a couple of the Dirt Farmer cuts on my last CD. I wasn't too happy with Calvary, but didn't do too badly on Anna Lee.