Post by Mistermoonlight on Apr 19, 2012 18:49:32 GMT -5
I'm getting so sad of posting threads about my heroes dying. I guess it's the time of the season. All I can do is tell you why they were important to me. The latest is Levon Helm, of The Band, who died today at 71.
The group began as the backup band for Ronnie Hawkins, and they were a band who didn't back down for nothing. Although you can't see much of Levon (he's the drummer) till the end of this clip, you see what they were capable of:
From there they went on to become Bob Dylan's backup band. And when the time came for them to be signed to Warner Bros. they insisted on being known as simply 'The Band.' Their music was something we hadn't heard before. It was almost as if you had been transported back to the 1800's, it was Southern music at it's most vital, even though Levon was the only one from the south. He was from Arkansas, the rest of the band from Canada. No one else wrote songs like this. They were are as much a part of American history as they were a musical performance.
I was lucky enough to see them with Bob Dylan in Hattiesburg, MS in 1976, and I'll never forget it.
The group began as the backup band for Ronnie Hawkins, and they were a band who didn't back down for nothing. Although you can't see much of Levon (he's the drummer) till the end of this clip, you see what they were capable of:
From there they went on to become Bob Dylan's backup band. And when the time came for them to be signed to Warner Bros. they insisted on being known as simply 'The Band.' Their music was something we hadn't heard before. It was almost as if you had been transported back to the 1800's, it was Southern music at it's most vital, even though Levon was the only one from the south. He was from Arkansas, the rest of the band from Canada. No one else wrote songs like this. They were are as much a part of American history as they were a musical performance.
I was lucky enough to see them with Bob Dylan in Hattiesburg, MS in 1976, and I'll never forget it.
But yeah, my mom was pregnant w/me at the time so there's this long going joke that's why i'm a Bob Dylan fan. 
