LEVON HELM: NEW BIOGRAPHY RELEASE AUG 25!

A dazzling, epic biography of Levon Helm––the beloved, legendary drummer and singer of the Band.

He sang the anthems of a generation: "The Weight," "Up on Cripple Creek," and "Life Is a Carnival." Levon Helm's story––told here through sweeping research and interviews with close friends and fellow musicians––is the rollicking story of American popular music itself.

In the Arkansas Delta, a young Levon witnessed "blues, country, and gospel hit in a head-on collision," as he put it. The result was rock 'n' roll. As a teenager, he joined the raucous Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, then helped merge a hard-driving electric sound with Bob Dylan's folk roots, and revolutionized American rock with the Band. Helm not only provided perfect "in the pocket" rhythm and unforgettable vocals, he was the Band's soul.

Levon traces a rebellious life on the road, from being booed with Bob Dylan to the creative cauldron of Big Pink, the Woodstock Festival, world tours, The Last Waltz, and beyond with the man Dylan called "one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation."

Levon: From Down in the Delta to the Birth of The Band and Beyond

Author Sandra B. Tooze digs deep into what Helm saw as a devastating betrayal by his closest friend, Band guitarist Robbie Robertson––and Levon's career collapse, his near bankruptcy, and the loss of his voice due to throat cancer in 1997.

Levon as Ted Webb with Sissy Spacek

Yet Helm found success in an acting career that included roles in Coal Miner's Daughter and The Right Stuff. Regaining his singing voice, he made his last decade a triumph, opening his barn to the Midnight Rambles and earning three Grammys. Cancer finally claimed his life in 2012.

Levon is penetrating, skillfully told the tale of a music legend from Southern cotton fields to global limelight.

LEVON HELM MEMORIAL BOULEVARD!

By William J. Kemble
Correspondent


WEST HURLEY, N.Y. — State Route 375 was dedicated as Levon Helm Memorial Boulevard on Friday by admirers who said the singer and drummer always would stick by his friends and work to help underdogs beat the odds.

An afternoon ceremony near the intersection of Routes 375 and 28 drew about 125 people, including state Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, who sponsored the legislation allowing the road designation. A sign bearing the words “Levon Helm Memorial Boulevard” was unveiled during the event.

The road renaming applies to the entire 3-mile length of Route 375, which runs from Route 28 in West Hurley to Route 212 in Woodstock and passes near the home where Helm lived on Plochmann Lane in Woodstock. He lived there until his death at age 71 in April 2012 after a battle with throat cancer.

Helm rose to fame in the late 1960s as a member of The Band, which was based for a time in a West Saugerties house known as Big Pink, and later drew acclaim for the Saturday night Midnight Ramble concerts he hosted in the barn/studio on his Plochmann Lane property. The Rambles often had big-name musical guests and allowed Helm to extend his fan base through many generations. Continued...