Levon
From Down in the Delta to the Birth of The Band and Beyond
Published on 31. August 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-1-63576-913-5 (ISBN)
Description
A dazzling, epic biography of Levon Helm--the beloved, legendary drummer and singer of the Band.
A dazzling, epic biography of Levon Helm--the beloved, legendary drummer and singer of the Band.
He sang the anthems of a generation: "The Weight," "Up on Cripple Creek," and "Life Is a Carnival." Levon Helm's story--told here through sweeping research and interviews with close friends and fellow musicians--is the rollicking story of American popular music itself.
In the Arkansas Delta, a young Levon witnessed "blues, country, and gospel hit in a head-on collision," as he put it. The result was rock 'n' roll. As a teenager, he joined the raucous Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, then helped merge a hard-driving electric sound with Bob Dylan's folk roots, and revolutionized American rock with the Band. Helm not only provided perfect "in the pocket" rhythm and unforgettable vocals, he was the Band's soul.
Levon traces a rebellious life on the road, from being booed with Bob Dylan to the creative cauldron of Big Pink, the Woodstock Festival, world tours, The Last Waltz, and beyond with the man Dylan called "one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation."
Author Sandra B. Tooze digs deep into what Helm saw as a devastating betrayal by his closest friend, Band guitarist Robbie Robertson--and Levon's career collapse, his near bankruptcy, and the loss of his voice due to throat cancer in 1997. Yet Helm found success in an acting career that included roles in Coal Miner's Daughter and The Right Stuff. Regaining his singing voice, he made his last decade a triumph, opening his barn to the Midnight Rambles and earning three Grammys. Cancer finally claimed his life in 2012.
Levon is a penetrating, skillfully told tale of a music legend from Southern cotton fields to global limelight.
A dazzling, epic biography of Levon Helm--the beloved, legendary drummer and singer of the Band.
He sang the anthems of a generation: "The Weight," "Up on Cripple Creek," and "Life Is a Carnival." Levon Helm's story--told here through sweeping research and interviews with close friends and fellow musicians--is the rollicking story of American popular music itself.
In the Arkansas Delta, a young Levon witnessed "blues, country, and gospel hit in a head-on collision," as he put it. The result was rock 'n' roll. As a teenager, he joined the raucous Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, then helped merge a hard-driving electric sound with Bob Dylan's folk roots, and revolutionized American rock with the Band. Helm not only provided perfect "in the pocket" rhythm and unforgettable vocals, he was the Band's soul.
Levon traces a rebellious life on the road, from being booed with Bob Dylan to the creative cauldron of Big Pink, the Woodstock Festival, world tours, The Last Waltz, and beyond with the man Dylan called "one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation."
Author Sandra B. Tooze digs deep into what Helm saw as a devastating betrayal by his closest friend, Band guitarist Robbie Robertson--and Levon's career collapse, his near bankruptcy, and the loss of his voice due to throat cancer in 1997. Yet Helm found success in an acting career that included roles in Coal Miner's Daughter and The Right Stuff. Regaining his singing voice, he made his last decade a triumph, opening his barn to the Midnight Rambles and earning three Grammys. Cancer finally claimed his life in 2012.
Levon is a penetrating, skillfully told tale of a music legend from Southern cotton fields to global limelight.
Reviews / Votes
A dazzling, epic biography of Levon Helm--the beloved, legendary drummer and singer of the Band.He sang the anthems of a generation: The Weight, Up on Cripple Creek, and Life Is a Carnival. Levon Helm's story--told here through sweeping research and interviews with close friends and fellow musicians--is the rollicking story of American popular music itself.
In the Arkansas Delta, a young Levon witnessed blues, country, and gospel hit in a head-on collision, as he put it. The result was rock 'n' roll. As a teenager, he joined the raucous Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, then helped merge a hard-driving electric sound with Bob Dylan's folk roots, and revolutionized American rock with the Band. Helm not only provided perfect in the pocket rhythm and unforgettable vocals, he was the Band's soul.
Levon traces a rebellious life on the road, from being booed with Bob Dylan to the creative cauldron of Big Pink, the Woodstock Festival, world tours, The Last Waltz, and beyond with the man Dylan called one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation.
Author Sandra B. Tooze digs deep into what Helm saw as a devastating betrayal by his closest friend, Band guitarist Robbie Robertson--and Levon's career collapse, his near bankruptcy, and the loss of his voice due to throat cancer in 1997. Yet Helm found success in an acting career that included roles in Coal Miner's Daughter and The Right Stuff. Regaining his singing voice, he made his last decade a triumph, opening his barn to the Midnight Rambles and earning three Grammys. Cancer finally claimed his life in 2012.
Levon is a penetrating, skillfully told tale of a music legend from Southern cotton fields to global limelight.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
488 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-63576-913-5 (9781635769135)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Sandra B. Tooze garnered world-wide acclaim for her book Muddy Waters: Mojo Man. Eric Clapton wrote the foreword, and Levon Helm and Mick Jagger both endorsed it with back-cover quotes. The reviewer for America's preeminent blues magazine, Living Blues, called it a "first rate biography. . . . An illumination and a joy, it deserves a place on our shelves as a loving and earnest tribute to one of the greats of American music." On Britain's BBC radio, her book was described as "terrific. . . . and absolutely great." And in the UK's premier music magazine, Mojo, it was praised as "a vivid, brilliantly researched portrait." She currently resides in British Columbia, Canada.