Levon Helm

Blame the 25 years between Helm's solo LPs on throat cancer, which nearly silenced the Band's inimitable vocalist. Headed by the swinging Cajun cut "Poor Old Dirt Farmer," his comeback is a feisty set of new and old songs (by the Stanley Brothers, Steve Earle and others), accompanied by daughter Amy and Dylan sideman Larry Campbell. With the rowdy feel of a "midnight ramble" and grassy songs like "The Blind Child" and "Little Birds," Helm's voice sounds fiercely old -- in that modern Ralph Stanley way -- but also fiercely proud. Given the quality of his return, the latter is well earned.

The sole American in the Band, singer-drummer Levon Helm --the son of an Arkansas
cotton farmer -- knew firsthand the hard labor, family ties and Dixie fireside tales that were
the roots and soil of guitarist Robbie Robertson's songs. On Dirt Farmer, Helm goes home to
the tunes and fables of his boyhood, including the traditional "Blind Child," the Stanley
Brothers standard "False -Hearted Lover Blues" and A.P. Carter's cheeky "Single... More >