For those who never saw The Band take the stage in their heyday, some rare footage from a 1970 concert at Pittsburgh’s Syria Mosque has surfaced on YouTube. Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, and Richard Manuel perform songs from Music From The Big Pink, The Band, and Stage Fright. Watch them play “Time [...]

“Long Black Veil” (Written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkins) “The scaffold is high and eternity near.” Those words, perhaps the most chilling from “Long Black Veil,” one of the most haunting murder ballads you’ll ever hear, have been sung by a whole lot of folks over the years, including iconic voices like Burl Ives, Jerry [...]

In October, an impressive group of musicians, including everyone from Gregg Allman and Jakob Dylan to John Mayer and Eric Church, gathered to pay tribute to Levon Helm. The concert was a way to say goodbye to The Band’s late drummer, who died last year at 71 after battling throat cancer, and to raise funds [...]

If you pass through the state of New Jersey and you’re a musical artist of any stature, chances are that Bruce Springsteen has joined you onstage, especially if you visit his unofficial home court, The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. Yet there have been very few pairings as momentous as the one took place [...]

Puss n’ Boots (Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson, and Catherine Popper of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals ) Suzanna Choffel, Bug & Bru from the Defibulators and Fredro Perry with The Cheating Hearts unite to celebrate Levon Helm and raise money to save Levon’s legendary Woodstock barn at New York City’s Hill Country on 11/19/12.

September/October “On My Deathbed” winner Brad Grossen reveals his prize picks.  From Tom Waits to Tom Petty, read Brad’s blog post below on the picks that helped him win the HD-28E Retro Martin guitar.  And enter the next “On My Deathbed” contest for your chance to win a HD Dierks Bentley Martin Guitar. Ram – [...]

In the liner notes to the 30th anniversary edition of All Things Must Pass, his mammoth 1970 triple album, George Harrison wrote, “I still like the songs on the album and believe they can continue to outlive the style in which they were recorded.” It was a typically modest, self-deprecating statement from Harrison, and one [...]

“In a world of a lot of bought fame and record labels, Levon Helm has always been about the music,” exclaimed Eric Church on stage at Love For Levon, a star-studded gathering of musicians playing tribute to the Arkansas drummer last night at The Meadowlands. Coming from a singer currently sitting at the top of [...]

To help celebrate the life and legacy of Levon Helm, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers have created their own version of “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever,” a Motown staple that appeared on The Band’s 1989 compilation, To Kingdom Come. Recorded exclusively for American Songwriter, Bluhm’s cover doubles as the latest installment of “Van Sessions,” [...]

Various Artists Garth Hudson Presents Chest Fever:A Canadian Tribute to the Band (Curve Music/Redeye) Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars With Levon Helm’s recent passing, there are only two men from the legendary lineup of the Band left standing. As the least heralded one, keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Garth Hudson spearheads this excellent if somewhat offbeat homage to [...]

The song remains the same, but the debate about credit for The Band’s incredible output continues When writing the September/October issue’s cover story about Levon Helm’s life and legacy, I chose, for several reasons, not to address in detail the longstanding debate about whether Helm and other Band members were credited properly for their contributions. [...]

When Mavis Staples taped her first Austin City Limits episode on June 27, she earned a thunderous standing ovation after her fourth song, one she first recorded with the Staples Singers in 1968. After soaking in the applause, she said simply, “Levon Helm. Levon Helm.” Explore the September/October Issue The clapping got even louder. “Oh, [...]