When it comes to collaborative duos in the rock era, you can’t get better than Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson. (Please, no harping on Lennon/McCartney or the Glimmer Twins) The creative collaboration between Helm and Robertson was a perfect fit: Robertson was a songwriter who couldn’t sing, and Helm was a singer who sang it like he wrote it.
As their band, The Band, broke up in 1976, Helm and Robertson parted company and bad blood bubbled up. Helm wanted more recognition for his creative contributions, while a cool and calculating Robertson quietly moved on to film scores and solo albums (two of which are quite good, despite his voice.) Increasingly, Helm’s name came up in “what-ever-happened-to” conversations, while Robertson turned rock ‘n’ roll statesman.
The prevalent factor in Helm’s musical disappearance was his battle with throat cancer. Another factor was the loss of a significant creative partner in Robertson. Odds were long that Helm could beat the cancer, even longer that he could save his voice and find a creative stand-in for Robertson. But, his health improved, his voice got stronger, and he happened upon a songwriting producer named Larry Campbell. Campbell, along with Helm’s daughter, Amy, guided Helm though the sessions that became 2007’s Grammy winning, Dirt Farmer.
Now, Campbell and Helm are back at it, leaving the acoustic confines of Dirt Farmer for a bountiful harvest of Dixieland boogie, melancholy gospel, and journeyman blues. Electric Dirt has delightful surprises around every corner: the call-and-response spiritual in middle of “When I Go Away,” the musical humor and political satire of “Kingfish,” and the Helm and Campbell original, “Growing Trade.”
Helm and company considered following Dirt Farmer with a pure blues record. While such a record would have been a lot of fun for Levon, I doubt we would have a lot of fun listening to it. They reconsidered and took a harder road. The end result is an album that stands tall – sometimes, taller – next to Dirt Farmer.
As their band, The Band, broke up in 1976, Helm and Robertson parted company and bad blood bubbled up. Helm wanted more recognition for his creative contributions, while a cool and calculating Robertson quietly moved on to film scores and solo albums (two of which are quite good, despite his voice.) Increasingly, Helm’s name came up in “what-ever-happened-to” conversations, while Robertson turned rock ‘n’ roll statesman.
The prevalent factor in Helm’s musical disappearance was his battle with throat cancer. Another factor was the loss of a significant creative partner in Robertson. Odds were long that Helm could beat the cancer, even longer that he could save his voice and find a creative stand-in for Robertson. But, his health improved, his voice got stronger, and he happened upon a songwriting producer named Larry Campbell. Campbell, along with Helm’s daughter, Amy, guided Helm though the sessions that became 2007’s Grammy winning, Dirt Farmer.
Now, Campbell and Helm are back at it, leaving the acoustic confines of Dirt Farmer for a bountiful harvest of Dixieland boogie, melancholy gospel, and journeyman blues. Electric Dirt has delightful surprises around every corner: the call-and-response spiritual in middle of “When I Go Away,” the musical humor and political satire of “Kingfish,” and the Helm and Campbell original, “Growing Trade.”
Helm and company considered following Dirt Farmer with a pure blues record. While such a record would have been a lot of fun for Levon, I doubt we would have a lot of fun listening to it. They reconsidered and took a harder road. The end result is an album that stands tall – sometimes, taller – next to Dirt Farmer.
JH
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Bunny's loyal legions at SSP thank you for this timely review.
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