LEVON HELM
''RAMBLE AT THE RYMAN''
2011
70:52
1 Ophelia (Robbie Robertson) 03:58
2 Back To Memphis (Chuck Berry) 04:54
3 Fannie Mae (Ronnie Hawkins) 03:32
4 Baby Scratch My Back (Slim Harpo) 04:13
5 Evangeline (Robbie Robertson) 03:30
6 No Depression In Heaven (A.P. Carter) 04:01
7 Wide River To Cross (Buddy Miller, Julie Miller) 04:43
8 Deep Elem Blues (Traditional) 07:11
9 Anna Lee (Laurelyn Dossett) 04:01
10 Rag Mama Rag (Robbie Robertson) 04:21
11 Time Out For The Blues (Dan Hart, Buddy Starcher) 02:43
12 A Train Robbery (Paul Kennerley) 05:41
13 The Shape I’m In (Robbie Roberton) 04:43
14 Chest Fever (Robbie Robertson) 07:03
15 The Weight (Robbie Robertson) 06:12
Steven Bernstein/Trumpet
Sam Bush/Guest Artist, Mandolin, Vocals
Larry Campbell/Fiddle, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Mandolin, Musical Director, Vocals
Jay Collins/Saxophone
Sheryl Crow/Autoharp, Guest Artist, Vocals
Little Sammy Davis/Harmonica, Vocals
Clark Gayton/Trombone, Tuba
Amy Helm/Drums, Mandolin, Vocals
Levon Helm /Drums, Mandolin, Vocals
John Hiatt/Guest Artist, Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
Erik Lawrence/Saxophone
Tony Leone/Drums
Buddy Miller/Guest Artist, Guitar, Vocals
Brian Mitchell/Accordion, Organ, Piano, Vocals
Paul Ossola/Bass
George Receli/Guest Artist, Percussion
Billy Bob Thornton/Guest Artist, Vocals
Teresa Williams /Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
Grammy-winning (best Americana album of 2011) live album with the Levon Helm band, recorded at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium on September 17, 2008, with guests Buddy Miller, John Hiatt, Sheryl Crow, George Receli, Sam Bush and Billy Bob Thornton.
In this release, The Levon Helm Band includes: Levon Helm, Larry Campbell, Amy Helm, Teresa Williams, Brian Mitchell, Erik Lawrence, Clark Gayton, Jay Collins, Steven Bernstein, Paul Ossola, Tony Leone and Sammy Davis.
Released in May 2011. Also available on DVD.
REVIEW
by Mark Deming/AMG
Levon Helm is one of rock & roll's most indefatigable road warriors, a guy who would seemingly be happy to play every single night, but he's also a cancer survivor who is over 70 years old, and spending his days in a tour bus doubtless doesn't hold the sort of appeal it once did. Since 2004, Helm has been striking a compromise between his eagerness to perform and the rigors of touring with a series of shows he calls The Midnight Ramble, held at the recording studio located on the grounds of his home in Woodstock, New York. The Ramble shows feature Helm and his band playing with a handful of friends and guest artists each week, and the intimate gigs have been popular enough that Helm has been playing occasional Ramble-style concerts in larger venues in the United States and Europe. Ramble at the Ryman, as its title suggests, was recorded during a show at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium (the former home of The Grand Ol' Opry) in the fall of 2008, where his band (led by multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell and vocalist and mandolinist Amy Helm) plays a handful of classic tunes from Helm's years with the Band and a couple numbers from his more recent solo efforts, while several guests step up to join the band throughout the evening, including Sheryl Crow, Buddy Miller, Sam Bush, John Hiatt, and Little Sammy Davis (the blues singer and harmonica player, not the late member of the Rat Pack). While Levon sings (and sings well) on several numbers, there are moments when one senses the revue-style show is partly in deference to his voice, which clearly isn't as strong or as resilient as it used to be. But Helm is still one of the most soulful drummers alive, and his work behind the kit is solid and joyous throughout, and his ensemble, capable of turning on a dime from spare and somber string band arrangements to rollicking New Orleans-style R&B, is superb, and does right by the half-dozen Band classics on the set list without slavishly copying the original arrangements. The guests are all clearly delighted to be on-stage with Levon and bring their A-game, and even when his voice strains to hit the higher notes, Helm still performs with an authority few living musicians can summon. Ramble at the Ryman may not be the same as hearing Levon Helm play for a few dozen guests at his studio -- or for a few thousand fans at one of America's most venerable venues -- but it captures a living legend on-stage proving he doesn't have to rest on his laurels to win applause, and this is a hell of a party coming from a guy well past retirement age.
BIOGRAPHY
by Richard Skelly/AMG
The longtime drummer for the Band, Levon Helm wore many musical hats throughout his long career, including multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, impresario, studio owner, studio engineer, and producer. He grew up working on a farm in Arkansas; his first instrument was guitar, which he began playing at age eight, but after seeing the F.S. Walcott Rabbits Foot Minstrels, he decided to switch to drums. As a youth, Helm listened to the music of the area, including radio broadcasts of The Grand Ole Opry and the blues and R&B shows on WLAC, a clear-channel station out of Nashville that became legendary in the development of R&B and early rock & roll. Accompanied by his sister Linda on washtub bass, he played various fairs and civic club shows until forming his first group, the Jungle Bush Beaters, while in high school.
After seeing an Elvis Presley concert, Helm became keenly interested in rock & roll and musicians like Bo Diddley. Eventually, he moved to Memphis, where he began sitting in with Conway Twitty. Later, he was discovered by a fellow Arkansan, rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins, who asked the 17-year-old Helm to join the Hawks, his backing band. The group soon relocated to Toronto, where they'd heard there was a burgeoning scene for their kind of music. In 1959, Hawkins signed to Roulette Records, where he and the Hawks cut a pair of hit records right out of the gate with "Forty Days" and "Mary Lou," which went on to sell in excess of 700,000 copies.
In the early '60s in Toronto, Helm and Hawkins recruited the rest of the members of the group that would become the Band, adding guitarist Robbie Robertson, pianist Richard Manuel, organist Garth Hudson, and bassist Rick Danko to the lineup. After numerous road trips with Hawkins, the group grew tired of the singer's abrasive manner, and they re-formed as Levon & the Hawks, later changing their name to the Canadian Squires for the purpose of recording two singles. Shortly after, they changed their name back to the Hawks. In the mid-'60s, Bob Dylan decided to electrify his sound and wanted the Hawks to be his backing band. After putting up with too many boos at Dylan's newly electrified shows in 1965, Helm decided he'd had enough, and went back to Arkansas, thinking he would leave the music business behind him forever.
But Helm returned to action in mid-1967, when the Hawks (since renamed simply the Band) began working on Music from Big Pink, the first in a string of classic records that made them one of rock's most legendary acts. After the Band's famed 1976 farewell performance, dubbed The Last Waltz, he cut his 1977 debut solo album, Levon Helm & the RCO All Stars, followed a year later by his self-titled sophomore effort. In 1980 he recorded American Son, while another eponymously titled effort was released in 1982. the Band re-formed in 1983 without Robertson; following Manuel's 1986 suicide, the remaining trio released 1993's Jericho, recorded at Helm's home studio in Woodstock, New York. That same year, Helm published his autobiography, This Wheel's on Fire, co-authored with Stephen Davis. the Band's bluesy High on the Hog followed in 1995. The late '90s (and into the next decade) found Helm still making music in a new blues band called Levon Helm & the Barn Burners, with his daughter Amy on keyboards and vocals, guitarist Pat O'Shea, lead vocalist and harmonica player Chris O'Leary, and upright bassist Frankie Ingrao, and with a similar outfit called Crowmatrix. An album of tracks from this era called Souvenir, Vol. 1 appeared in 2000 from Breeze Hill.
Cancer of the vocal cords silenced Helm's unique voice as the 21st century opened, although he kept up his drumming duties, and in time was able to sing again, emerging with a slightly raspier version of his old vocal style. He began holding intimate concerts with various musical friends at his studio in Woodstock, calling them Midnight Rambles, samples of which were released as The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 1 and The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 2 in 2006. The following year saw the release of Dirt Farmer, Helm's first solo album in 25 years. The similar but looser Electric Dirt followed in 2009. Ramble at the Ryman, which captured highlights of Helm's 2008 Midnight Ramble concert at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, was released on both CD and DVD in 2011. In spring of the following year, Helm's family announced that he was in the end stages of cancer, and he died on April 19, 2012. The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 3 was released the following December.
OFFICIAL SITE
2 Back To Memphis (Chuck Berry) 04:54
3 Fannie Mae (Ronnie Hawkins) 03:32
4 Baby Scratch My Back (Slim Harpo) 04:13
5 Evangeline (Robbie Robertson) 03:30
6 No Depression In Heaven (A.P. Carter) 04:01
7 Wide River To Cross (Buddy Miller, Julie Miller) 04:43
8 Deep Elem Blues (Traditional) 07:11
9 Anna Lee (Laurelyn Dossett) 04:01
10 Rag Mama Rag (Robbie Robertson) 04:21
11 Time Out For The Blues (Dan Hart, Buddy Starcher) 02:43
12 A Train Robbery (Paul Kennerley) 05:41
13 The Shape I’m In (Robbie Roberton) 04:43
14 Chest Fever (Robbie Robertson) 07:03
15 The Weight (Robbie Robertson) 06:12
Steven Bernstein/Trumpet
Sam Bush/Guest Artist, Mandolin, Vocals
Larry Campbell/Fiddle, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Mandolin, Musical Director, Vocals
Jay Collins/Saxophone
Sheryl Crow/Autoharp, Guest Artist, Vocals
Little Sammy Davis/Harmonica, Vocals
Clark Gayton/Trombone, Tuba
Amy Helm/Drums, Mandolin, Vocals
Levon Helm /Drums, Mandolin, Vocals
John Hiatt/Guest Artist, Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
Erik Lawrence/Saxophone
Tony Leone/Drums
Buddy Miller/Guest Artist, Guitar, Vocals
Brian Mitchell/Accordion, Organ, Piano, Vocals
Paul Ossola/Bass
George Receli/Guest Artist, Percussion
Billy Bob Thornton/Guest Artist, Vocals
Teresa Williams /Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
Grammy-winning (best Americana album of 2011) live album with the Levon Helm band, recorded at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium on September 17, 2008, with guests Buddy Miller, John Hiatt, Sheryl Crow, George Receli, Sam Bush and Billy Bob Thornton.
In this release, The Levon Helm Band includes: Levon Helm, Larry Campbell, Amy Helm, Teresa Williams, Brian Mitchell, Erik Lawrence, Clark Gayton, Jay Collins, Steven Bernstein, Paul Ossola, Tony Leone and Sammy Davis.
Released in May 2011. Also available on DVD.
REVIEW
by Mark Deming/AMG
Levon Helm is one of rock & roll's most indefatigable road warriors, a guy who would seemingly be happy to play every single night, but he's also a cancer survivor who is over 70 years old, and spending his days in a tour bus doubtless doesn't hold the sort of appeal it once did. Since 2004, Helm has been striking a compromise between his eagerness to perform and the rigors of touring with a series of shows he calls The Midnight Ramble, held at the recording studio located on the grounds of his home in Woodstock, New York. The Ramble shows feature Helm and his band playing with a handful of friends and guest artists each week, and the intimate gigs have been popular enough that Helm has been playing occasional Ramble-style concerts in larger venues in the United States and Europe. Ramble at the Ryman, as its title suggests, was recorded during a show at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium (the former home of The Grand Ol' Opry) in the fall of 2008, where his band (led by multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell and vocalist and mandolinist Amy Helm) plays a handful of classic tunes from Helm's years with the Band and a couple numbers from his more recent solo efforts, while several guests step up to join the band throughout the evening, including Sheryl Crow, Buddy Miller, Sam Bush, John Hiatt, and Little Sammy Davis (the blues singer and harmonica player, not the late member of the Rat Pack). While Levon sings (and sings well) on several numbers, there are moments when one senses the revue-style show is partly in deference to his voice, which clearly isn't as strong or as resilient as it used to be. But Helm is still one of the most soulful drummers alive, and his work behind the kit is solid and joyous throughout, and his ensemble, capable of turning on a dime from spare and somber string band arrangements to rollicking New Orleans-style R&B, is superb, and does right by the half-dozen Band classics on the set list without slavishly copying the original arrangements. The guests are all clearly delighted to be on-stage with Levon and bring their A-game, and even when his voice strains to hit the higher notes, Helm still performs with an authority few living musicians can summon. Ramble at the Ryman may not be the same as hearing Levon Helm play for a few dozen guests at his studio -- or for a few thousand fans at one of America's most venerable venues -- but it captures a living legend on-stage proving he doesn't have to rest on his laurels to win applause, and this is a hell of a party coming from a guy well past retirement age.
BIOGRAPHY
by Richard Skelly/AMG
The longtime drummer for the Band, Levon Helm wore many musical hats throughout his long career, including multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, impresario, studio owner, studio engineer, and producer. He grew up working on a farm in Arkansas; his first instrument was guitar, which he began playing at age eight, but after seeing the F.S. Walcott Rabbits Foot Minstrels, he decided to switch to drums. As a youth, Helm listened to the music of the area, including radio broadcasts of The Grand Ole Opry and the blues and R&B shows on WLAC, a clear-channel station out of Nashville that became legendary in the development of R&B and early rock & roll. Accompanied by his sister Linda on washtub bass, he played various fairs and civic club shows until forming his first group, the Jungle Bush Beaters, while in high school.
After seeing an Elvis Presley concert, Helm became keenly interested in rock & roll and musicians like Bo Diddley. Eventually, he moved to Memphis, where he began sitting in with Conway Twitty. Later, he was discovered by a fellow Arkansan, rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins, who asked the 17-year-old Helm to join the Hawks, his backing band. The group soon relocated to Toronto, where they'd heard there was a burgeoning scene for their kind of music. In 1959, Hawkins signed to Roulette Records, where he and the Hawks cut a pair of hit records right out of the gate with "Forty Days" and "Mary Lou," which went on to sell in excess of 700,000 copies.
In the early '60s in Toronto, Helm and Hawkins recruited the rest of the members of the group that would become the Band, adding guitarist Robbie Robertson, pianist Richard Manuel, organist Garth Hudson, and bassist Rick Danko to the lineup. After numerous road trips with Hawkins, the group grew tired of the singer's abrasive manner, and they re-formed as Levon & the Hawks, later changing their name to the Canadian Squires for the purpose of recording two singles. Shortly after, they changed their name back to the Hawks. In the mid-'60s, Bob Dylan decided to electrify his sound and wanted the Hawks to be his backing band. After putting up with too many boos at Dylan's newly electrified shows in 1965, Helm decided he'd had enough, and went back to Arkansas, thinking he would leave the music business behind him forever.
But Helm returned to action in mid-1967, when the Hawks (since renamed simply the Band) began working on Music from Big Pink, the first in a string of classic records that made them one of rock's most legendary acts. After the Band's famed 1976 farewell performance, dubbed The Last Waltz, he cut his 1977 debut solo album, Levon Helm & the RCO All Stars, followed a year later by his self-titled sophomore effort. In 1980 he recorded American Son, while another eponymously titled effort was released in 1982. the Band re-formed in 1983 without Robertson; following Manuel's 1986 suicide, the remaining trio released 1993's Jericho, recorded at Helm's home studio in Woodstock, New York. That same year, Helm published his autobiography, This Wheel's on Fire, co-authored with Stephen Davis. the Band's bluesy High on the Hog followed in 1995. The late '90s (and into the next decade) found Helm still making music in a new blues band called Levon Helm & the Barn Burners, with his daughter Amy on keyboards and vocals, guitarist Pat O'Shea, lead vocalist and harmonica player Chris O'Leary, and upright bassist Frankie Ingrao, and with a similar outfit called Crowmatrix. An album of tracks from this era called Souvenir, Vol. 1 appeared in 2000 from Breeze Hill.
Cancer of the vocal cords silenced Helm's unique voice as the 21st century opened, although he kept up his drumming duties, and in time was able to sing again, emerging with a slightly raspier version of his old vocal style. He began holding intimate concerts with various musical friends at his studio in Woodstock, calling them Midnight Rambles, samples of which were released as The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 1 and The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 2 in 2006. The following year saw the release of Dirt Farmer, Helm's first solo album in 25 years. The similar but looser Electric Dirt followed in 2009. Ramble at the Ryman, which captured highlights of Helm's 2008 Midnight Ramble concert at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, was released on both CD and DVD in 2011. In spring of the following year, Helm's family announced that he was in the end stages of cancer, and he died on April 19, 2012. The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Vol. 3 was released the following December.
OFFICIAL SITE
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