Thanks For The Music Levon

I don’t want my journal to be an obituary column, but today we lost Levon Helm who had a distinguished career as a musician. He was originally from Arkansas and was in a group called the Hawks who backed up singer Ronnie Hawkins. This group was later known as The Band since they were Bob Dylan’s band. Levon was the drummer of the group that I feel was one of the most underrated classic rock acts. In Spring 1966 the group backed up Dylan on his famous tour of England, but Levon stayed home and was replaced by Mickey Jones who produced a video commenting on that tour. In 1967 after Dylan’s motorcycle accident he and the Band recorded the Basement Tapes in a house called Big Pink in upstate New York. The Band recorded their seminal album music from Big Pink. In 1974 the Band backed up Dylan on his famous tour.

Levon stayed with the Band until its farewell performance documented in the concert film, The Last Waltz. Over the next years Levon became a solo artist, but the Band reformed in 1983 without Robbie Robertson. He was also an actor appearing in the Coal Miner’s Daughter with Sissy Spacek. He was an active recording artist until his terminal illness.

Levon joins Rick Danko and Richard Manuel in Rock n Roll Heaven. Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson are now the only living members of the original Band.

Thanks Levon for all the wonderful music you provided over the years. Rest in peace, old buddy.

Biography from the Wikipedia

One of Levon's better performances was the classic, The Weight