Levon Helm
May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012
Ah, a huge loss to music, acting, neighbors, friends, mankind.
To each of us.
Just listen to him sing, you'll hear it.
It must be 1968 or so and I am reading an interview with Jimi Hendrix and there's the guitar god speaking like an excited kid about a band by the name of The Band.
Hendrix mentioned an album titled "Music From Big Pink".
What in the world? I thought.
Immediately I went out the door, down the drive, along the sidewalk of houses and dogs and friends until I came to my small town and kept walking, to the Main Street
and into the red doors of Woolworth's and there in the record bin, about three wide,
was the album Hendrix had spoken about. Praised to the heavens. New in plastic and $2.95.
Capitol Records.
I bought it with little money I owned.
Played the record to death.
And still play it.
I was a drummer then and Levon was a drummer, one who sang with a great side whip charging southern voice. He was calvary.
Decades later we raised a son and he became a drummer and of course he took to Levon like every drummer I ever met did. One day he called Levon, who he didn't know, and Levon certainly didn't know him, and it was just after Levon's throat surgery for cancer and he spoke quite awhile to this young sixteen year old drummer.
I could get tears in my eyes thinking of that quality of man.
by the way ~
this wheel's on fire is a terrific read
title taken from a terrific song
and one of the
top-notch books ever published
in this country on music,
musicians and the road
