Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

Ed Muskie cried while defending his wife during a media encounter in 1972; his tears cost him the New Hampshire primary. Hillary Clinton cried thirty-six years later, during an ongoing campaign defense of why she would be a good President because, among other things, she was the wife of one; her tears have been credited as a major reason why she won the current version of the same primary.

In 1972 The Band released the album ?ÄúRock of Ages,?Äù which included a version of ?ÄúAcross the Great Divide?Äù from the group?Äôs eponymous second recording. ?ÄúNow Molly dear,?Äù its bridge begins, ?Äúdon?Äôt shed a tear/Your time will surely come, you?Äôll feed your man.?Äù Thirty-five years later, this legendary music group?Äôs drummer and possibly most easily identifiable voice, Levon Helm, released a new CD titled ?ÄúDirt Farmer.?Äù

Its title track is a traditional song about a ?Äúpoor old dirt farmer?Äù who has lost his entire corn crop for some unidentified reason; as a result, he cannot repay his loan to the bank, his wife and children have left him, he has fallen from his tractor (?ÄúAnd now his head/Is shaped like a tread?Äù), and he cannot get another loan to grow another crop. His only recourse is to take the stones from his unplowed field, roll them downtown, and present them to ?Äúthe tax man.?Äù Without tears.

?ÄúDirt Farmer?Äù is the kind of recording that is equal parts swagger and weariness. Think back to the opening ten words from The Band?Äôs first visit to the Top 40 charts, ?ÄúThe Weight,?Äù when Helm sang ?ÄúI pulled into Nazareth/Was feelin?Äô ?Äòbout half past dead.?Äù The songs of ?ÄúDirt Farmer?Äù have that same sense of timeless mystery in their musical DNA. Five of the CD?Äôs thirteen songs are traditional songs and the rest of them sound like they should be.

All of this recording?Äôs songs are presented like traditional songs, with arrangements featuring acoustic guitars, mandolins, accordions, upright bass, and harmonies shaped by Southern gospel (the current term for ?Äúwhite gospel?Äù singing) and the Appalachian modes that have made their way into bluegrass, rock and roll, country, and nearly every rural-based American music. It is no accident that Vanguard Records, responsible for some of the most popular and best-known folk albums of the 1960s and early 1970s (Joan Baez, anyone?), released this CD, Helm?Äôs first solo album since 1982?Äôs ?ÄúLevon Helm,?Äù on Capitol Records (not to be confused with 1978?Äôs ?ÄúLevon Helm?Äù on the Mobile Fidelity label).

If anyone had a reason to shed a tear, it would not be the above-mentioned Muskie, Clinton, and Molly but Levon himself. In the CD booklet?Äôs brief text, he mentions his throat cancer surgery in 1998, followed by twenty-eight radiation treatments, a fire that destroyed eighty percent of his recording studio, and the loss of his good friend and Bandmate Rick Danko. He credits ?Äúthree to four years filled with the power of prayer and kind wishes?Äù as part of what convinced him to try and sing again, along with the encouragement of his daughter Amy, who teams with Teresa Williams to sing harmonies on the CD. There is no public bemoaning or shedding false tears from Levon Helm regarding his life?Äôs journey, only an understated mention of gratitude and a guarded acknowledgement of his voice being ?Äúover halfway back.?Äù Most singers would be lucky to sound like he does on this CD and be only halfway back. This music is not about luck but love: love of music. And a lot of hard work.

Helm also helped himself by getting Larry Campbell to coproduce the CD with Amy Helm and also contribute heavily to the sound of the recording with his performances on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, percussion, and harmonies. Since leaving Bob Dylan?Äôs band in 2004, Campbell has done extremely well for himself: among his many projects, along with his work on ?ÄúDirt Farmer,?Äù he has been a regular member of Phil Lesh & Friends. Campbell is an unsung force in contemporary Americana music; perhaps he needs to go to New Hampshire and cry.

To order this CD or for additional information, visit www.vanguardrecords.com.

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