Levon Helm
Dirt Farmer
(Vanguard/Dirt Farmer, 2007)

The drummer and vocalist of the Band returns to the music he used to make when he was a boy—folk songs of the soil full of working class soul and deep Americana roots. Helm’s solo albums have never lived up to the promise of his work with the Band, but that problem doesn’t plague Dirt Farmer, an album that almost didn’t get made.

In the last few years Helm’s studio burned down, he endured the death of Rick Danko, and he was diagnosed with throat cancer. The radiation and chemo treatments left him barely able to talk, much less sing. Eventually his daughter, Amy, one of the founders of the folk rock group Ollabelle, coaxed him back into his rebuilt studio for this album. Producers Larry Campbell (who has worked with everyone from Elvis Costello to Willie Nelson) and Amy Helm put together a group of roots musicians and helped Helm select the tunes, many of them songs he sang as a kid.

Helm’s voice isn’t what it was in his youth, but his phrasing and authority make up for any limitations. “Little Birds” is accompanied mostly by Campbell’s mournful mountain fiddle. Helm can hardly hit the high notes and strains to maintain his vocal lines here, but his delivery only heightens the yearning and despair of the lyric. Helm sounds better on “Calvary”, a song of suffering and redemption contributed by bass player Byron Isaacs, also a member of Ollabelle. Helm’s minimal drumming and Campbell’s resonator guitar mark the tune’s funereal pace as Helm slips down into moaning low tones and slides up to the wailing high notes supported by the harmonies of his daughter Amy and Teresa Williams. “Anna Lee” is a new song that sounds like a lost classic, the tale of a loving mother swept away by a flood while on the way to care for her sick sister. Campbell’s primitive fiddle supports Helm’s folky, bare-bones vocal while Amy Helm and Williams add their mournful harmonies to the chorus. The song’s over-the-top lyric could have sounded overly sentimental, but Helm’s understated vocal intensifies the song’s tragedy.

“Got Me a Woman” is country blues in the mode of Jimmie Rodgers, and J. B. Lenoir’s “Feelin’ Good” lightens the mood and shows Helm’s playful side. Both songs feature exuberant vocals from Helm, great wailing country harmonies from Amy Helm and Williams, and bubbly support from the players. On “Feelin’ Good” Helm slips into one of the slow, lazy groves he’s famous for and sings with a lightness that’ll bring a smile to your face. “A Train Robbery” would have been a perfect cover for the Band. It’s the story of a botched train robbery by Frank and Jesse James in their latter days. Historically, the Great Glendale Train Robbery was one of the James Boys’ great exploits. In this retelling, the desperados find a freight car’s safe empty and have to resort to robbing old people of their few possessions. The drama of the story is intensified by the ensemble’s swampy groove and Helm’s vocal that’s at home telling the kind of historical story that made the Band’s reputation. Helm’s unassuming voice and the folky, down-to-earth arrangements make every track here a delight, proving again how powerful folk music can be when people put their heart and soul into it.

Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]