Today we look back to the February 2000 issue of Relix for this feature on Levon Helm.

Levon Helm has had his fair share of the blues during the five decades he’s spent making music. One of the intrinsic singers of The Band, it was his voice you heard singing “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “The Weight” and “Up On Cripple Creek.” Gold albums, world tours, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; The Band has become a serious musical history lesson. Founding member, Rick Danko, passed away in December 1999.

Two years ago, Helm was diagnosed as having throat cancer. After receiving 28 radiation treatments, his health is back on track, though, attempts at singing are currently out of the question.

So Levon has formed a blues band, the Barn Burners, playing the songs he heard as a young kid in Arkansas by Sonny Boy Williamson and Muddy Waters. He has also recently been immersing himself in recording projects: Guy Davis winner of the Keeping The Blues Alive W.C. Handy Award, his album, Butt Naked Free, features Levon on drums.

As I arrived in Woodstock Levon had only just returned from a recording session in New Jersey arranged by Keith Richards and Rob Fraboni for a Hubert Sumlin album, Hubert Plays Muddy, for New York label Mystic Music. The album is designed to showcase Sumlin performing songs he’s rarely played before: those by Howlin Wolf’s rival, Muddy Waters. Eric Clapton and assorted musicians who played in Muddy Waters’ band were also present.

Days later he was to travel up to Kingston, Ontario to record with his old boss, Ronnie Hawkins, for a session of blues standards. In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s Helm was a Hawk with fellow Arkansas frontman Ronnie Hawkins, appearing on American Bandstand and gracing the Billboard charts with “Hello, Mary Lou” and other rockabilly hits.

Woodstock is a town that doesn’t wake till noon and things go at a nice easy pace. Talk between locals is, which house is it that Brad Pitt has just bought?

While sitting in a bar nursing a cold beer the barman, Ed, asks me what I’m doing in town. Well, I’m here to see Levon Helm. Some guy next to me perks up, “Oh, Levon has a great blues band in town and they play every week. I went to see him last week and sat next to a young lady who looked like she needed some company, turns out it was Levon’s daughter. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Yes sir, on a Wednesday night in a local honky tonk called the Joyous Lake, the blues is pumping loud and proud from Levon Helm & The Barn Burners. They have a residency there performing two sets a night. Levon walks in ten minutes before the first set begins at 10:00pm, warmly greeting friends and folks that have traveled to see him. Sitting down at his drums he arranges the snare drum, checks the cymbals, beams a smile at his band and, BAM! Kicks straight into Muddy Waters’ “I’m Ready.” Frontman Chris O’Leary lays strong, menacing vocals and harp. Other members include guitarist Pat O’Shea and Frank Ingrao on standup bass. Energy flows from Levon as he swings and smiles behind this young band. He’s always been one of rocks greatest drummers but will tell you that his heroes, Earl Palmer and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith are in another league. “19 Years Old,” “Wang Dang Doodle” and “I Want To Be Loved” follow, O’Leary’s harp tracing the original sound of Levon’s close friend and harmonica maestro, James Cotton. The dance floor is heaving, notable Woodstock locals twisting and jiving in joy. Amy Helm is introduced, at 28 she is following in the footsteps of her father as a strong, passionate singer. She tentatively starts the Etta James classic, “I Just Want To Make Love To You.” Second verse in she owns it. She’s very animated during her singing, really working the stage. Amy and Chris duet on Hound Dog, Frank Ingrao slapping that standup bass, Levon hasn’t stopped smiling all night. She ends her set with a great version of Shake A Hand, smoldering on each verse and blazing on the chorus.

If you’re one of the dancers, the fifteen minute break between sets is welcome relief to catch a breath and get hold of a cold drink.

The second set is another triumph of familiar and obscure favorites from the blues bible. A couple of original songs, The Grass Is Always Greener, a notable tune, are also thrown into the set.
The morning after the gig everything is quiet in Woodstock. By 1:00 PM I’m heading up to Levon’s place, after 30 odd years he still owns and lives in a large property in town.

In the living quarters of his barn, the opposing side being a huge studio space, he introduced me to his wife, Sandy. We stood and talked about his old friend and other shining voice for The Band, Rick Danko, who died from heart failure in December 99.

“I miss him every Goddamn day. When I said, Brother, Rick. That was our inside way of talking to each other. Levon and Sandy said, We knew he wasn’t well, but we didn’t expect to lose him. You never think the worse will happen. They spoke of good times and funny things that happened to them all.

Levon gestured towards his studio and we sat down to talk about his new band and the blues.

How did the Barn Burners come together?

Well all the Barn Burners are Woodstock area kids. They’re in their late ‘20s early ‘30s. What I like about the Barn Burners is their blues heads, they’ve never wanted to listen to anything other than blues. It gives them a good foundation for what we’re trying to play and what I grew up with, and what I like best. Most musicians will tell you that they like playing the blues best. And we’re getting to do all that we want to.

And having my daughter, Amy Helm, in the band makes it a lot more fun for me. It’s something brand new that I’ve never experienced before.

And we’ve got the right kind of instrumentation for me with the stand up bass, electric guitar, electric harmonica and drums. It’s about a year and a half going on two years that we’ve been working at it. It seems like lately we can start to hear some of the results of our work and our endeavors. Maybe you noticed last night that Amy’s voice and Chris_ voice is starting to blend more now when they do boy/girl songs, and that kind of thing. I think our rhythm section is tighter, me and Frankie and Pat are playing closer to each other now. And we got a long way to go, we still don’t have all the standards under our belt yet. That’s still one of our goals.

I believe that you have to play the standards, Jimmy McCracklin, Louis Jordan, Muddy Waters. All those good players. Playing their tunes just makes the night a hell of a lot of fun and it gives you what you should know.

And you’ve recently been on the road?
Yeah, we went down south to play some dances and some blues clubs. We were in Memphis during the cotton carnival.

Any chance of recording?

We hope to. We don’t have anything right now, but we’re gonna record at some point. Sometimes I think we’re ready to get started, but at the same time time I know that we still have some other things to do. Maybe within this coming year we should be able to get something recorded. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

And the recording session in New Jersey?

Yeah, the Hubert Sumlin session. I think that Rob Fraboni and Keith (Richards) set it up. One of Keith’s right hand guys died so he didn’t get to come but Mudcat Ward (J. Geils Band) showed up, Dave Maxwell, Bob Margolin, Paul Ocsher on harmonica (longtime Muddy Waters sidemen). And Eric Clapton showed up on the last day, we were there for three days.

We cut several things with Paul Oscher, and several things with Bob Margolin. Those two tunes, I’m Ready and Long Distance Call with Eric. Man, it was good sound. And we had one of our heroes there with us, Hubert Sumlin. Everybody played their hearts out. I don’t know whether just having Hubert there made it so or what. Of course, Bob Margolin and Paul Oshcer out of Muddy Waters band it had a good official delta blues sound to it. It was over to quick. But Hubert Sumlin is one of those great guitar players that we’ve all grown up listening to and he played on some of the greatest blues records. I would walk to New Jersey or anywhere else to be a part of that session. The music played us.

Regarding folk and blues and carrying those traditions on. Do you think we’ve got enough kids around that are willing and strong enough players to keep it alive?

Yeah, I sure do. When I hear the Barn Burners and some of the other blues bands around, I think that what you want to call roots music is in pretty good shape. Because besides being a lot of fun to play those songs most players realize that to be a better player you’re gonna have to know those songs. It needs to be in your repertoire, you need to know them by heart. It’s in pretty good shape that way.

You and Amy are working on some children’s songs.

Yeah, some of Amy’s friends and herself have a thing at Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York and it’s called Musicians On Call. They get musicians to go by the hospital and go to the children’s day room and play for the children. They go around to some of the rooms for children that can’t get up, some of them are sick or don’t feel good. So you go by the room and you take a guitar and a mandolin, we do, Amy and I. Sometimes you have to put on the medical gowns and the hats and try and sing with a mask over your face (laughs). But it’s okay. The amazing thing about some of those children that can’t really move a lot, you can start to play music with them and all of a sudden they can clap their hands and make movements that they couldn’t do before. And it’s so satisfying and so rewarding to get those smiles from those little kids. It warms my heart I’ve never done anything that’s meant more to me or made me feel any better.

And of course I’ve gone through some of that stuff myself. Having twenty eight radiation treatments for throat cancer within the last two years made me a lot more aware of the need for that kind of thing. It’s a great thing. Consequently, because of that, Amy and I were trying to work out some sessions. We had one idea, we’ve got about half of it worked up called The Little Kid Blues (laughs). Hell, all you want is ice cream and a good fun day with balloons and happy faces but you’ve got those little kid blues. Things like that. Participation songs was our main idea and goal. To try and come up with some songs that the kids could participate with and clap their hands and snap their fingers. Sing a verse and answer a verse. Back and forth. So it’s an interesting thing but I don’t know where it’ll lead to. But it’s a hell of a rewarding thing.