Early years Born Mark Lavon Helm in
Elaine, Arkansas, his father's earliest American ancestor was English colonist Robert Glidewell born 1 February 1701 Bristol, Prince George, Virginia, USA. Robert Glidewell was the father of Nash Glidewell who served in the 10th and 14th Virginia Continental army. Nash was present at Valley Forge under Captain John Tweatt.
Delaware Colony from
Buckinghamshire, England in 1693. Helm grew up in
Turkey Scratch, a
hamlet of
Marvell, Arkansas. His parents, Emma “Nell” and Jasper “Diamond” Helm, After his graduation in 1958, Helm joined the Hawks as a full-time member and they moved to
Toronto, where they signed with
Roulette Records in 1959 and released several singles, including a few hits. Helm reported in his autobiography that fellow Hawks band members had difficulty pronouncing "Lavon" correctly and started calling him "Levon" ( ) because it was easier to pronounce. In 1961, Helm with bassist
Rick Danko backed jazz guitarist
Lenny Breau on several tracks recorded at Hallmark Studios in Toronto. These tracks are included on the 2003 release
The Hallmark Sessions. By the early 1960s, Helm and Hawkins had recruited an all-Canadian lineup of musicians, guitarist
Robbie Robertson, bassist
Rick Danko, pianist
Richard Manuel, and organist
Garth Hudson, all of whom were multi-instrumentalists. In 1963, the band parted ways with Hawkins and started touring as Levon and the Hawks and later as the Canadian Squires, before changing back to the Hawks. They recorded two singles, but remained mostly a popular touring bar band in
Texas,
Arkansas, Canada, and on the
East Coast of the United States, where they found regular summer club gigs on the
New Jersey shore. By the mid-1960s, songwriter and musician
Bob Dylan was interested in performing electric rock music and asked the Hawks to be his
backing band. Disheartened by fans' negative response to Dylan's new sound, Helm left the group in the autumn of 1965 for what turned out to be a two-year layoff, being replaced by a range of touring drummers (most notably
Mickey Jones) and Manuel, who began to double on the instrument. He spent time with his family in Arkansas, and undertook sojourns in
Los Angeles, where he experimented with
LSD and performed with
Bobby Keys, and
Memphis and
New Orleans, where he worked on a nearby
oil platform. In the autumn of 1967, after what would later be called "the
Summer of Love", he returned to the group. After the Hawks toured Europe with Dylan, they followed him back to the U.S., remaining under salary, and settled near Dylan's home in
Woodstock, New York. The Hawks recorded a large number of demonstration and practice tapes in nearby
West Saugerties, New York, playing almost daily with Dylan, who had completely withdrawn from public life following a motorcycle accident in July 1966. These recordings were widely
bootlegged and were partially released officially in 1975 as
The Basement Tapes. The songs and themes developed during this period played a crucial role in the group's future direction and style. The Hawks also began writing their own songs, with Danko and Manuel also sharing writing credits with Dylan on a few songs.
The Band Helm returned to the group, then referred to simply as "the band”, as it was known around Woodstock. While contemplating a recording contract, Helm had dubbed the band "The Crackers”, but when Robertson and their new manager
Albert Grossman worked out the contracts, the group's name was given as "the Band”. Under these contracts, the Band was contracted to Grossman, who in turn contracted their services to
Capitol Records. This arrangement allowed the Band to release recordings on other labels if the work was done in support of Dylan. Thus the Band was able to play on Dylan's
Planet Waves album and to release
The Last Waltz, both on other labels. The Band also recorded their own album,
Music from Big Pink (1968), which catapulted them into stardom. Helm was the Band's only American member. , Hamburg, 1971 On
Music from Big Pink, Manuel was the most prominent vocalist, and Helm sang backup and harmony, with the exception of "
The Weight". However, as Manuel's health deteriorated and
Robbie Robertson's songwriting increasingly looked to the South for influence and direction, subsequent albums relied more and more on Helm's vocals, alone or in harmony with Danko. Helm was primarily a drummer and vocalist and increasingly sang lead, although, like all his bandmates, he was also a multi-instrumentalist. On occasion, Manuel switched to drums while Helm played
mandolin, guitar, or bass guitar (while Danko played
fiddle) on some songs. Helm played the 12-string guitar backdrop to "Daniel and the Sacred Harp". ) Helm remained with the Band until their farewell performance on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, which was the subject of the documentary film
The Last Waltz, directed by
Martin Scorsese. Helm repudiated his involvement with
The Last Waltz shortly after the completion of its final scenes. In his autobiography, Helm criticized the film and Robertson who produced it.
Solo, acting and the reformed Band With the breakup of the Band in its original form, Helm began working on a solo-ensemble album,
Levon Helm & the RCO All-Stars, with
Paul Butterfield,
Fred Carter, Jr., Emmeretta Marks,
Howard Johnson,
Steve Cropper,
Donald "Duck" Dunn,
Booker T. Jones, and others. Levon Helm and the RCO All-Stars recorded ''Live at The
Palladium NYC, New Year's Eve 1977''. The
CD album released in March 2006 features over one hour of
blues-rock music performed by an ensemble featuring Levon Helm (drums/vocals),
Dr. John (keys/vocals), Paul Butterfield (harmonica/vocals), Fred Carter (guitar/vocals), Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass), Cropper (guitar),
Lou Marini (saxophones), Howard Johnson (tuba/baritone sax),
Tom "Bones" Malone (trombone), and
Alan Rubin (trumpet). This was followed in 1978 by the solo album
Levon Helm. More solo albums were released in 1980 and 1982:
American Son and (once again)
Levon Helm, both produced by
Fred Carter, Jr. He also participated in musician
Paul Kennerley's 1980 country music
concept album,
The Legend of Jesse James, singing the role of
Jesse James alongside
Johnny Cash,
Emmylou Harris,
Charlie Daniels,
Albert Lee, and others. In addition to his work as musician, Helm also acted in several dramatic films. He was cast as
Loretta Lynn's father in the 1980 film ''
Coal Miner's Daughter, followed three years later by a role as U.S. Air Force test pilot and engineer Capt. Jack Ridley, in The Right Stuff''. Helm was also the latter film's narrator. The 1987 under-appreciated
End of the Line featured Levon as a small-town railroad employee alongside
Wilford Brimley and
Kevin Bacon. He played a Kentucky backwoods preacher in
Fire Down Below. He played an eccentric old man in the 2005 film
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and appeared as Gen.
John Bell Hood in the 2009 film
In the Electric Mist. He also had a brief cameo as a weapons expert in the film
Shooter with
Mark Wahlberg. In 1983, the Band reunited without Robbie Robertson, at first playing with an expanded lineup that included the entire
Cate Brothers Band, but in 1985, paring down and adding
Jim Weider on guitar. In 1986, while on tour, Manuel committed suicide. Helm, Danko, and Hudson continued in the Band, adding pianist
Richard Bell and drummer/vocalist
Randy Ciarlante and releasing the album
Jericho in 1993 and
High on the Hog in 1996. The final album from the Band was the 30th-anniversary album,
Jubilation released in 1998. In 1989, Helm and Danko toured with drummer
Ringo Starr as part of his
All-Starr Band. Other musicians in the band included singer and guitarist
Joe Walsh, singer and pianist
Dr. John, singer and guitarist
Nils Lofgren, singer
Billy Preston, saxophonist
Clarence Clemons, and drummer
Jim Keltner.
Garth Hudson was a guest on
accordion on some dates. Helm played drums and harmonica and sang "The Weight" and "Up on Cripple Creek" each night. In the televised
1989 Juno Awards celebration, the Band was inducted into the Juno Awards' Hall of Fame. Helm was not present at the ceremony, but a taped segment of him offering his thanks was broadcast after the acceptance speeches by Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson. Richard Manuel's children accepted the award on behalf of their father. To conclude the televised special, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, and Robbie Robertson performed "The Weight" with
Blue Rodeo. Helm performed with Danko and Hudson as the Band in 1990 at
Roger Waters's epic
The Wall – Live in Berlin Concert in
Germany to an estimated 300,000 to half a million people. In 1993, Helm published an autobiography entitled ''
This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band''.
The Midnight Ramble Helm's
vocal cords were damaged due to a bout with throat cancer in the 1990s, and his clear, powerful
tenor voice was replaced by a quiet rasp. Helm's performance career in the 2000s revolved mainly around the Midnight Ramble at his home and studio, "The Barn", in
Woodstock, New York. These concerts, featuring Helm and various musical guests, allowed him to raise money for his medical bills and to resume performing after a bout with cancer that nearly ended his career. Initially, Helm only played drums and relied on guest vocalists at the Rambles, but eventually his singing voice grew stronger. On January 10, 2004, he sang again at his Ramble sessions. In 2007, during production of
Dirt Farmer, Helm estimated that his singing voice was 80% recovered. The Levon Helm Band featured his daughter
Amy Helm,
Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams,
Jim Weider (The Band's last guitarist),
Jimmy Vivino,
Mike Merritt,
Brian Mitchell,
Erik Lawrence,
Steven Bernstein,
Howard Johnson (
tuba player in the horn section on the Band's
Rock of Ages and
The Last Waltz),
Clark Gayton, Jay Collins (Helm's now former son-in-law), Byron Isaacs, and blues harmonica player
Little Sammy Davis. The Midnight Ramble was an outgrowth of an idea Helm explained to Martin Scorsese in
The Last Waltz. Earlier in the 20th century, Helm recounted, traveling
medicine shows and music shows such as F. S. Wolcott's Original Rabbit's Foot Minstrels, featuring African-American blues singers and dancers, would put on titillating performances in rural areas. (This was also turned into a song by the Band, "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show," with the name altered so the lyric was easier to sing.) , New York, 2007 "After the finale, they'd have the midnight ramble," Helm told Scorsese. With young children off the premises, the show resumed: "The songs would get a little bit juicier. The jokes would get a little funnier and the prettiest dancer would really get down and shake it a few times. A lot of the rock and roll
duck walks and moves came from that." During this period, Helm switched to the
matched grip and adopted a less busy, greatly simplified drumming style, as opposed to the
traditional grip he used during his years with the Band. Helm was busy touring every year during the 2000s, generally traveling by tour bus to venues in eastern Canada and the eastern United States. After 2007, he performed in large venues such as the
Beacon Theatre in New York City. Dr. John and
Warren Haynes (the
Allman Brothers Band,
Gov't Mule) and Garth Hudson played at the concerts along with several other guests. At a show in
Vancouver, Elvis Costello joined to sing "
Tears of Rage". The
Alexis P. Suter Band was a frequent opening act. Helm was a favorite of radio personality
Don Imus and was frequently featured on
Imus in the Morning. In the summer of 2009, a reality television series centering on the Midnight Ramble reportedly was in development. In 2012, Levon Helm and his "midnight rambles" were featured on the PBS Arts site, "Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders", including a poignant last interview with PBS's Marco Werman.
Dirt Farmer and comeback The autumn of 2007 had the release of
Dirt Farmer, Helm's first studio solo album since 1982. Dedicated to his parents and co-produced by his daughter Amy, the album combines traditional tunes Levon recalled from his youth with newer songs (by
Steve Earle,
Paul Kennerley, and others), which flow from similar historical streams. The album was released to almost immediate critical acclaim, and earned him a
Grammy Award in the Traditional Folk Album category for 2007. Also in 2007, Helm recorded "Toolin' Around Woodstock", an album with
Arlen Roth on which Levon played drums and sang "
Sweet Little 16" and "Crying Time". This album also featured Levon's daughter Amy, and Roth's daughter Lexie, along with
Sonny Landreth and
Bill Kirchen. Helm declined to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony, instead holding a "Midnight Gramble" and celebrating the birth of his grandson, Lavon (Lee) Henry Collins. In 2008, Helm performed at
Warren Haynes's
Mountain Jam Music Festival in
Hunter, New York, playing alongside Haynes on the last day of the three-day festival. Helm also joined guitarist
Bob Weir and his band
RatDog on stage as they closed out the festival. Helm performed to great acclaim at the 2008
Bonnaroo Music Festival in
Manchester, Tennessee. Helm drummed on a couple of tracks for
Jorma Kaukonen's February 2009 album
River of Time, recorded at the Levon Helm Studios. Helm released the album
Electric Dirt on his own label on June 30, 2009. Like
Dirt Farmer, an aim of
Electric Dirt was to capture of feel of Helm's Midnight Rambles. The album won a best album Grammy for the newly created Americana category in 2010. Helm performed on the
CBS television program
Late Show with David Letterman on July 9, 2009. He also toured that same year in a supporting role with the band
Black Crowes. A documentary on Helm's day-to-day life, entitled ''Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm'' was released in March 2010. Directed by Jacob Hatley, it made its debut at the
South by Southwest film festival in
Austin, Texas, and went on to be screened at the
Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2010. The film had a limited release in select theaters in the United States in the spring of 2013 and was released on DVD and Blu-ray later that year. On May 11, 2011, Helm released
Ramble at the Ryman, a live album recorded during his performance of September 17, 2008, at the
Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The album features Helm's band playing six songs by the Band and other cover material, including some songs from previous Helm solo releases. The album won the
Grammy Award for Best Americana Album. Some of his last sessions recorded in 2011 with
Mavis Staples were released in 2022 as
Carry Me Home. ==Legacy==