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Helm's latest waltz

By Steven Patrick

The summer of 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair. Therefore, it is particularly fitting that one of the festival's most prominent alums just released his latest album. Levon Helm, the drummer from the legendary rock group The Band, just turned 69 years old last month and has created a masterpiece that should define his post-The Band solo material. The new album, entitled "Electric Dirt," was released on Helm's own label through Vanguard Records and produced by former Bob Dylan guitarist Larry Campbell. In 2007, Helm won a Grammy for his traditional folk album "Dirt Farmer," which was also produced by Campbell. "Dirt Farmer" was the first album since Helm's 1982 self-titled effort, so together with "Electric Dirt" the two latest albums represent a renaissance for one of rock's most recognizable drummers and vocalists.

Let me just say, "Dirt Farmer" was a fantastic record that was a complete return to form for a legendary performer who was being criminally overlooked at the time, but I always thought it was missing something. Granted, it wouldn't have been a very "traditional" folk album to have electric guitar in it; however, I think Mr. Campbell figured out what was missing and that element is featured prominently in the title of the latest album. The "Electric" element adds a new vivacity to Helm's vocals and playing that makes him sound decades younger. This is an astounding feat, because a close call with throat cancer almost robbed music fans of this American treasure forever.

"Electric Dirt" can be seen as a tribute to each of the musical styles that gave rise to The Band and Mr. Helm's music in the first place. The traditional country/folk that made "Dirt Farmer" so successful is present on the album with the track "Golden Bird" and the Carter Stanley cover "White Dove." The blues influence in Helm's musical history is soundly represented by a pair of exquisite covers of Muddy Waters: "Stuff You Gotta Watch" and "You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had." The distinctive swing from The Band when they were heavily supported by New Orleans-style horn sections can be heard in the opening track, a Grateful Dead cover "Tennessee Jed" and Randy Newman's "Kingfish." The legendary Allen Toussaint even did the horn arrangements.

There are even a pair of originals penned in part by Helm and they are both examples of how Mr. Helm still has complete control of his musical powers. "Growing Trade" is a song about a farmer who is in such financial despair that he needs to switch to growing marijuana to survive. The concept sounds amusing, but Helm's delivery turns it into a song hinging on the farmer's genuine moral dilemma about potentially soiling his family's land in some way by growing pot. "Heaven's Pearls" is an optimistic take on life's trials and tribulations and boils them all down to precious pearls sent from above.

The bottom line is, Helm is a living melting pot of American roots music. "Electric Dirt" is a magnificent statement that the music of Woodstock is very much still alive and thriving 40 years down the line.

Originally Published: July 1, 2009

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