Levon Helm is back with a vengeance. His new record, Dirt Farmer, (his first in 25 years) hit stores on Oct. 30th and is now playing on desktops, iPods and car stereos everywhere.
Levon sings and plays drums, guitar and mandolin on the CD, accompanied by Larry Campbell on guitars and fiddle, and the voices of Amy Helm and Teresa Williams.
Helm said, “Amy encouraged me to go all the way back and try to record some of the family songs from home that we always loved best.”
Rolling Stone critic David Fricke says, “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.”
The recording is something of a miracle, in that Helm recently fought through throat cancer and the consequent radiation treatments that threatened to take his voice and his life.