Levon Helm

Never have I had a bigger influence on my life at the time. My friend Colby put on the Last Waltz one night around 2006 and I stayed glued to the screen. Never seeing "The Band" before, from there I dove DEEP. Such a group of characters. All had their own unique personality that contributed to the group, and all played multiple instruments and sang. Before the days of butt country and pretty faces getting handed pre written songs to try and sing and perform with emotion that never exist in the first place, The Band and others alike were creating and giving birth to real music that came from somewhere you cannot imitate with pyro affects and auto tune. Don't get me wrong, that stuff has it's place in today's world, but not with all american bad asses like Levon Helm on the stage. The material on these guys is plentiful, so I suggest you give it a listen, maybe watch some interviews. No "one hit singles", or "that one albulm". Everything they put out was great in my opinion. they even managed to sprinkle in on multiple big albums with other greats. Neil Young's "On the beach", yea they are in the background playing and singing. Anyways, give it a whirl, you wont be disappointing. Levon Helm passed away 6 years ago today, and is one of the only people I wept for whom I didn't even know personally. Although, My dad, myself, and my buddy Nick did manage to drive up to Woodstock / Saugerties New York one fall in 2010 and see him play at his home during one of his Midnight Rambles. Nick and myself were standing above on his balcony watching and noticed his early wood rimmed Gretch drum kit just casually stacked in the corner with cobwebs. The one so many pictures of him playing in the Pink House where The Band and Bob Dylan recorded the Basement Tapes and many others. I'll never forget shaking his hand and saying hello after the show. I could keep this up, but you get the idea. I'm a super fan of The Band, and hate that they are no more... Levon Helm May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012