WERS 88.9 fm - Album Review: Levon Helm - Electric Farmer

 July 21st, 2009

Back in the 60's and 70's, Levon Helm showed America his many talents.  His slightly raspy belt gave power and pathos to some of The Band's best songs – "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "The Weight", and "Up on Cripple Creek" to name just a few.  And Helm carried those songs in another way, with his quirky, groovy drumming.  But in the late 90s, Helm's talents and health were in danger.  The legend was diagnosed with throat cancer, and though the tumor was removed, his voice was destroyed.  But in the last few years, it has miraculously returned.

It's a bit raspier and a little shakier, but Helm's work on Electric Dirt proves that his voice is still a powerful force.  The new voice brings a new element to the album, which evokes Helm's most famous works but also introduces moments of quirkiness, surprise, and triumph. Like his voice, Helm's drumming is still a unique creature.  His unusual mix of bangs, tings, shuffles, and clicks give each track both force and a unique charm.

In the hands of a lesser artist, a cover of Carter Stanley's "White Dove," wouldn't make much of an impression.  A mediocre interpretation would turn the song into just another slow country waltz.  But Helm sells the melody with his wail, sounding much like it did decades ago.  He cues each segment of the song with a one-two click of his drumsticks, gradually adding fiddle and gorgeous female harmonies to this rural landscape of a number.

Who would think to add mandolin to a slow Muddy Waters blues?  Helm did, and he pulled it off on the album's take on "You Can't Lose What You Never Had".  The rapidly repeated notes blend in perfectly with the more traditional rhythm instruments.  Think a soulful Clapton solo, but with the guitar traded in for a more distinct tone.

The album's most powerful, emotional moments are those with Helm's voice isolated.  Helm carries the ballad "Golden Bird," initially backed only by fiddle, but with the backing eventually turning into a full band's accompaniment by song's end.  But the star is the vocals… It's triumphant to hear an older, scarred Helm sing just as powerfully as his younger self could.  The vocal arrangement on "When I Go Away," is a belted, layered, perfectly executed Creole celebration that can make the Neville Brothers flinch.

Electric Dirt shows why Helm is a legend, and that he can still make music worthy of his catalog's high standard.  The album is a microcosm of jazz, blues, soul, country, and rock, reminiscent of The Band's transcendence of those styles.  But the new stuff also proves that while Helm may be older and scarred, this great artist still has some tricks up his sleeve.

-          Ben Tan