The old neighbourhood just ain't the same - Levon Helm R.I.P 1940-2012

On October 22 last year, myself, Paul Brainard and The Lost Brothers left Manhattan and drove north along the Major Deegan. Our destination Woodstock, our mission – to hear the great Levon Helm perform at his Midnight Ramble. Levon played drums, mandolin and sang like a bird for almost three hours. An incredible feat. We were having a blast. It was rock ’n’ roll stripped and pure. On song after song, Levon and his band hit the note.

After the show, we were invited back to meet Levon. While chatting in the kitchen he asked The Lost Brothers to return some day and play The Ramble with him. Last month I spoke with Barbara at his office and we agreed to come to Woodstock on October 6 this year and perform at the event. Alas, this is now a dream shattered. However, we will always have the memory of sitting in Levon’s barn and listening to a true, genuine master-musician perform with his red hot band, while he took us and shook us and brought us to places only a master magician can.
– Frank Murray, Lost Brothers manager.

GETTING TO KNOW LEVON
Like so many other Levon Helm fans around the world, I was deeply saddened to hear the news of his passing.
When I was 16, busking on Grafton St., I used to take my earnings down to the Secret Book and Record Store on Wicklow St. and trawl through the shelves. On one such day I came across a very ragged copy of a book entitled This Wheel’s On Fire. Levon Helm’s autobiography changed my life. It is surely one of the best rock ‘n’ roll books ever written. It led me to explore the music of The Band, Bob Dylan, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters and more, taking me on an extraordinary journey that continues to this day.
Levon Helm was born May 26, 1940, in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas. At the age of 13 he started singing around local talent competitions with his sister Linda, for whom he once made a washtub bass violin!
Still a young man, he travelled to Canada to help his then band leader Ronnie Hawkins gather the finest musicians around to form his backing band, The Hawks. The musicians they hired included Robbie Robertston, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson. Having parted company with Ronnie, The Hawks in turn would go on to become one of the greatest ensembles of all time and would soon become known simply as: The Band.
In 1965, The Band were recruited to back Bob Dylan on one of his first electric tours, starting at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, New York, and made rock ’n’ roll history. Emerging quietly from Dylan’s shadow, The Band, in their original quintet line-up, recorded the seminal Music From The Big Pink (released 1968), which was followed by The Band (1969), widely regarded as one of the greatest rock records of all time. Their final concert in 1975 was documented by Martin Scorsese in the landmark film The Last Waltz.
Along the way, The Band famously holed up in Woodstock with Dylan, recording the tracks that eventually became The Basement Tapes. Levon also found himself on the drum stool for Planet Waves, as well as a number of other great albums, including the self-titled Bobby Charles album, produced by fellow Band member, Rick Danko, and John Martyn’s Stormbringer.
He went on to star in movies such as Coalminer’s Daughter (1980) with Sissy Spacek, in which he skillfully took the role of Loretta Lynn’s humble and loving father.
Later, in the 2000s, Levon continued to tour with The Levon Helm Band, the line-up including musicians such as guitarist and producer Larry Campbell. His music remained potent and resonant to the end: his 2007 solo album Dirt Farmer and 2009’s Electric Dirt both won Grammys.
By any standards, it is a remarkable legacy.

MEETING THE GREAT MAN
In October last year, The Lost Brothers had the great honour of driving up to Woodstock to see Levon play at one of his famous Midnight Rambles at his home studio. I will never forget the journey north to see a true hero perform.
Myself, Mark (the other Lost Brother), Paul Brainard and our manager Frank Murray left Manhattan in the afternoon, and as we slowly drove upstate a magical autumn landscape spread out all around us. The leaves were golden and the passing lakes shone like silver.
For years I had been transfixed by albums such as Music From The Big Pink and Dylan’s The Basement Tapes and now we were in the heart of where these albums were written and recorded!
To me, these records had seemed like documents born out of some mythical pastoral land somewhere beyond the imagination and the everyday world. As I watched the countryside rolling by, I felt as if I was entering the dreamland I had read about all those years before in Levon’s book. It felt like we had entered Homer’s underworld!
It was Hallowe’en and as evening fell, we arrived into Woodstock, pumpkin heads with fire eyes appearing in house porches all around. Somehow it felt just right.
We chowed down at the Bearsville Café, an old haunt once owned by The Band’s legendary manager Albert Grossman.
Pre-Ramble excitement was in the air and soon it was time to head up to the concert. Campfires guided each car up the narrow roads to the ranch. The cold autumn Woodstock air swirled around trees and hid a beautiful October moon.
When Levon began to play, it was like watching a wizard fill a room with magic. I will never forget the way he perfectly fell in and out of each song, like some great whale breathing and playing with the ocean. He had the natural feel of a master. The cymbal crashes to end each song were perfect each time, and he had the whole room swinging with the sheer joy of the songs. He roared out a magnificent ‘Ophelia’ and led his fantastic band through songs old and new, sometimes taking up the mandolin.
After the show, we were invited down to Levon’s kitchen to say “hello”.
With the warmth of a true Southern gentleman, he greeted us and we chatted about music and Ireland and beyond. It was an honour to be in his presence. He asked very kindly after the Irish band Four Men And A Dog, which amazed me because I grew up and learned to play guitar in Roden’s Bar in Buncrana Co. Donegal, where some of their members are from: here I was now, I was standing with my all-time hero talking about my hometown!
Levon asked would we come to play his Midnight Ramble sometime and of course we said we’d be honoured to.
Only three weeks ago our manager Frank Murray had told us that The Lost Brothers were booked to play at Levon’s house October 6, 2012. Sadly this will never be...

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE
One image that’s lodged in my mind like a photo I can never lose is that of Levon, sitting alone at his kitchen table as we said our goodbyes. The room was dark save for a low lamp hanging down. With his white suit coat hung around his shoulders, he was like some great duke who had yet again gone the 12 rounds.
He seemed to be lost in deep thought, a thousand miles away, as if perhaps he was remembering some other time in his epic journey through life and music. This image of the great gentle and humble prince resting after the concert really stayed with me – and that’s the way I’ll remember Levon Helm.
On the way back to Manhattan that night, we were stopped by highway police because some lunatic was driving up the motorway on the wrong side of the road and he was coming our way! For some reason this reminded me of a scene from This Wheel’s On Fire: Levon, Rick, Garth, Richard and Robbie speeding down the highway with a double bass tied to the roof, breaking all the rules in rock ‘n’ roll and reinventing them as they went!
Into the wee small hours we drove, and soon we saw the distant lights of Manhattan appear on the horizon.
For me, Levon Helm was the sheriff of decency and he epitomised soulful music. And so I will crack open a beer, put more wood on the fire and listen to his songs until the sun comes up. God bless you Levon and good night sweet prince. Maybe we’ll meet again and play that Midnight Ramble – in the heavens.
– Oisin Leech, The Lost Brothers