Levon Helm was in the right place at the right time. He saw the birth of rock and roll and though he’s too much of a gentleman to say it, his role in helping to keep that rebellious child healthy is more than just instrumental.

On May 26, 1940, Mark Lavon Helm was the second of four children born to Nell and Diamond Helm in Elaine, Arkansas. Diamond was a cotton farmer who entertained occasionally as a musician. The Helm’s loved music and often sang together. They listened to The Grand Ole Opry and Sonny Boy Williamson and his King Biscuit Entertainers regularly on the radio. A favorite family pastime was attending traveling music shows in the area. According to his 1993 autobiography, This Wheel’s On Fire, Levon recalls seeing his first live show, Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, at six years old. His description: “This really tattooed my brain. I’ve never forgotten it.”
Hearing performers like Monroe and Williamson on the radio was one thing, seeing them live made a huge impression.

Ronnie Hawkins came into Levon Helm’s life in 1957. A charismatic entertainer and front-man, Hawkins was gathering musicians to tour Canada where the shows and money were steady. Ronnie had a sharp eye for talent. He needed a drummer and Levon fit the bill. Fulfilling a promise to Nell and Diamond to finish high school, Levon joined Ronnie and his “Hawks” on the road. The young Arkansas farm boy, once a tractor driving champion, found himself driving Hawkins' Cadillac to gigs, happily aware that all the unknown adventures of rock and roll would be his destiny.

In ’59 Ronnie got The Hawks signed to Roulette Records. They had two hits, Forty Days and Mary Lou, sold 750,000 copies and appeared on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.

Hawkins and Helm recruited four more talented Canadian musicians in the early sixties, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson. Under Ronnie’s tutelage they would often perform until midnight and rehearse until four in the morning. Other bands began emulating their style, now they were the ones to watch and learn from.

Eventually, the students surpassed their teacher. Weary of Ronnie’s strict regulations, and eager to expand their own musical interests, the five decided to break from Hawkins. They called themselves “Levon and the Hawks.”

About 1965, Bob Dylan decided to change his sound. He was ready to “go electric” and wanted Levon and The Hawks to help him fire it up. The boys signed on to tour with Dylan but unfortunately Dylan’s die-hard folk fans resisted. Night after night of constant booing left Levon without the pleasure of seeing his audience enjoy themselves. He calls his drummer’s stool “the best seat in the house,” because he can see his fellow musicians and his audience simultaneously. What pleases him most, then and now, is that his audience is having a good time. He left the group temporarily and headed to Arkansas. Dylan and the rest of the band took up residence in Woodstock, N.Y. They rented a large, pink house where they wrote and rehearsed new material. Danko called for Helm to join them when Capitol Records gave them a recording contract.

Woodstock residents called them “the band,” so they kept the moniker. The name “The Band” fit. The sound was no frills rock and roll but far from simplistic. They fused every musical influence they were exposed to over the years as individuals and as a unit. The result was brilliant. Their development as musicians was perfected by years of playing. Living together at “Big Pink” allowed complete collaboration of their artistic expression. Americana and folklore themes, heart-wrenching ballads filled with naked emotion, majestic harmonies, hard driving rhythms, and exquisite instrumentation made critics, peers and fans realize that this music was unlike any heard before. Their first album, Music from Big Pink, released in July of 1968, made them household names and as a result they were invited to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show in autumn of ’69. Following Big Pink’s success the next album, called simply The Band, is considered by some as their masterpiece. They made seven albums total, including one live recording in 1972, Rock of Ages. Many of their hits such as The Weight, W.S. Walcott’s Medicine Show, and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, were spawned from stories of Levon’s beloved south.



New releases produced by Levon Helm Studios are Volume I and II of The Midnight Ramble Sessions, plus a live RCO All-Stars performance from New Year’s Eve 1977, at the Palladium which came from Helm’s personal “vault.” The vitality and magnetism of these recordings speak for themselves. In September of 2007, Dirt Farmer Music and Vanguard Records released Dirt Farmer, Levon's first solo, studio album in twenty-five years. A project particularly close to his heart, the CD contains music reminiscent of his past and songs handed down from his parents. Dirt Farmer was awarded a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album in February 2008. Helm's dynamic follow-up CD, Electric Dirt, released in June 2009, took home another Grammy for best album in the new Americana category.

The intimacy of the shows performed at Levon’s hearth offer a hospitality and warmth found in no other venue, not to mention the excellence of the performances themselves, hosted by a man whose gifts are legendary. Though always an enthusiastic and passionate performer, today with sheer joy and gratitude, he effortlessly captivates his audience young and old, with a rhythmic power all his own. During a career that has spanned over five decades, Levon Helm has nurtured a tradition of professionalism with a deep respect for his craft and remains refreshingly genuine in a world that often compromises integrity. He is a master storyteller who weaves his tales with the magic thread of universality that ties us all. He beckons us to come in, sit awhile and enjoy. We see ourselves in his stories and we are home.