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At the end of a winding dirt driveway just off Main Street in Woodstock, New York, one of the great musical comeback stories of all time is on full display.
And what a joyful display it is.
There has been cause for celebration at the home and studio of music legend Levon Helm, who 12 years ago was stricken with throat cancer and told he might never sing again, leaving fans to wonder if one of the great American rock voices would suddenly be silenced.
But after undergoing radiation treatment and with a lifetime of perseverance to bolster him, Mr. Helm is back to doing what he does best—making great music.
The Levon Helm Band is fresh off winning two Grammy Awards for the albums “Electric Dirt,” which was named as the Best Americana Album of 2009 and “Dirt Farmer,” which won for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2007. The albums marked an incredible return to prominence for a singer who nearly lost his voice, and a man who could have lost his career.
There is another reason for Mr. Helm’s fans to rejoice, especially on select Saturday nights in Woodstock, where, in Mr. Helm’s barn-like studio, the Midnight Ramble sessions offer some of the most unique—and rewarding—musical experiences around.
Last Saturday night was the final Midnight Ramble of the spring season before Mr. Helm and his band hit the road for a 22-date tour stretching from Canada to Nashville, Tennessee, and from Radio City Music Hall in New York to the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
The band will also perform at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center this week, on Friday, April 9, at 8 p.m.
Mr. Helm is best known, of course, as the bearded drummer from the seminal 1960s and ’70s Americana rock and one-time backup group for Bob Dylan, The Band, which also featured the Canadian quartet of Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson. The 1978 Martin Scorsese film “The Last Waltz” cemented the already-popular group’s superstar status, and immortalized The Band’s final concert, on Thanksgiving Day in 1976 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.
Mr. Helm’s recent health problems and forced hiatus from singing were somewhat ironic in that he had always admitted to being a reluctant vocalist, even in the early days while belting out some of the most soulful and poetic lyrics in the history of rock and roll. Classic tunes like “The Weight,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” “Ophelia” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” all featured Mr. Helm on lead vocals.
Following his cancer diagnosis in 1998, the disease and the various treatments that followed ravaged Mr. Helm’s voice. And although he is cancer-free today, an operation last year to remove a lesion on his throat has once again left Mr. Helm struggling vocally.
Which is not to say he does not sing. At a recent Midnight Ramble session on March 27, Mr. Helm sang lead vocals on five songs and backed up on several others. He continues to play drums with as much soul and rhythm as ever, and benefits from having extremely talented musicians as members of The Levon Helm Band.
At the Midnight Rambles, these musicians—including Mr. Helm’s daughter, Amy—pour their heart and soul into Mr. Helm’s timber-framed studio, which was built using wooden pegs, no nails and local bluestone, giving the space a remarkable sound quality.
“There is no comparison, no equal,” Tony LoBue, who lives on Shelter Island and works as Mr. Helm’s webmaster, said before the Midnight Ramble in March, standing in a grass field that doubles as a parking lot. “You’re in Levon’s living room and he’s got some of the greatest musicians in his band.”
Tom Gagliardi, who also works at the Rambles, was welcoming guests before the recent show and happily talked about what brought him to Mr. Helm’s studio in the first place. He had traveled to Woodstock five years ago and saw a poster for the Midnight Ramble. He bought tickets for him and his wife, but the show had to be canceled at the last minute. Mr. Gagliardi, who travels to almost every Ramble from his home in New Jersey, said Mr. Helm welcomed people who bought tickets to hang around his property for the day.
“We spent all day out fishing, hanging out with his dog,” Mr. Gagliardi said. “He was telling us all about woodpeckers. He made everybody feel like they were the stars. Honestly, he’s the most gracious and humble man you will ever meet.”
The March 27 show featured an opening act, the JC Hopkins Biggish Band, which kicked the night off with an eight-piece horn section and a brief, unannounced appearance by Garth Hudson, the bearded organist and musical genius from The Band.
Following the opener, Mr. Helm took the stage alongside his band, led by Larry Campbell—Bob Dylan’s longtime guitarist—Brian Mitchell on the grand piano and a four-man horn section led by former Band saxophonist and tuba player Howard Johnson.
Amy Helm and Teresa Williams provided their own brand of beautiful lead and backup vocals and the kind of harmonies that made the vocal tracks from The Band work so well.
The song list from the March 27 Midnight Ramble was a mixed bag of Band classics like “Long Black Veil,” and “It Makes No Difference,” both sung by Ms. Helm and Ms. Williams, “The Great Divide,” “Chest Fever,” and, of course, “The Weight,” which might qualify as the most famous vocal performance of Mr. Helm’s career.
There were also covers like a folksy version of the Grateful Dead’s “Tennessee Jed,” which is also the opening track on “Electric Dirt.” There was blues, New Orleans funk and a gospel song that Mr. Helm courageously sang a cappella alongside his bandmates.
Special appearances by vocalist and recording artist Catherine Russell and blues master Lucky Peterson added additional flair to the evening, with Mr. Paterson nearly blowing the roof off the old barn with his two-song set. Mr. Helm frequently welcomes musical guests, with Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Chris Robinson, Steely Dan and Norah Jones just a few of the great names to have appeared in the past.
Throughout most Midnight Rambles—named after the old traveling rock and roll shows from Mr. Helm’s youth in Arkansas—Mr. Helm applauds his fellow band members, as well as the audience, for having as much fun as he seems to have. Except when he gets lost in the music, Mr. Helm is all smiles for the marathon four-hour sessions.
Listeners can expect the same on Friday night in Westhampton.
“I love playing for them,” Mr. Helm told Rolling Stone magazine, speaking about his fans. “Every song is a celebration. We’ve got so many great singers and players—that’s what’s so fun. We can go to the Beacon Theatre,” in New York, where Helm has hosted several traveling Rambles, “and play, but it just don’t sound as good as this old barn.”
Because of his recent throat surgery, Mr. Helm has not been granting interviews for the past several months and is much more likely to invite writers to a Midnight Ramble so they can hear the music for themselves.
The price of attending a Midnight Ramble—anywhere from $125 to $200—seems steep at first, but at the end the reward is large. After watching The Levon Helm Band play from just a few feet away, and considering that most front-row concert tickets sell at well above $150 today, the cost of the Midnight Ramble is a relative bargain.
As Mr. Helm wrote in the liner notes to “Dirt Farmer,” which three years ago stamped his remarkable comeback complete, “the last few years have proven to me that we truly live in an age of miracles.” After one night’s witness to a Midnight Ramble in Woodstock, music lovers would say amen to that.
Levon Helm and The Levon Helm Band will perform at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Friday, April 9, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $95, $120 or $145, available by calling the Arts Center box office at 288-1500, stopping by the PAC at 76 Main Street, or online at whbpac.org.
on Apr 6, 2010