Levon Helm
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm was an American rock 'n' roller, Americana musician, and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and regular lead vocalist for The Band. Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, multi-instrumental ability, and creative drumming style, highlighted on many of the Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDrummer
Date of Birth26 May 1940
CityElaine, AR
CountryUnited States of America
Conway Twitty was always our local hero while I was growing up. He had a series of good bands. I wanted to sit in, if Conway would let me. And he did a couple of times.
New York, it was an adult portion. It was an adult dose. So it took a couple of trips to get into it. You just go in the first time and you get your ass kicked and you take off. As soon as it heals up, you come back and you try it again. Eventually, you fall right in love with it.
Don't we all want what's best for each other?
We all love musical architecture; there's no doubt about that.
You got to pick one - pay your medical bills or pay the mortgage. Most people can't do both, and I'm no different.
Well, somebody's got to sing. They won't hire you unless you sing.
There were no rules, other than that the song should sound good and be fun to play.
It's different playing in a studio than it is playing live, of course.
I've always thought it was easier for girls to sing harmonies because their voices can go to that higher plane so much more easy than a male voice.
The way to do it is to put as much life into the song as I can. You can either get it to breathe or you can't.
I had throat cancer, and I had to have radiation treatments, and I couldn't sing for a long time; and this was in '97. I had 28 radiation treatments. I didn't die, thank God.
Maybe the greatness we heard in [Richard Manuel]'s voice, that catch in it, came from all that pain. To this day, we don't really know.
You can either make it come around or you can't. By the time we would be ready to record a song, we would know for sure that it was the best way we could do it.
I like to get within handshaking distance of the crowd. If it happens, they know it, we know it, and that's all we came here for.