Raised in poverty in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, the late Levon Helm clawed his way to fame and fortune in the music industry, lost it all and got it back.
When he died in April 2012, the legacy he left revolved largely around a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career that had brought him to Madison Square Garden and Wembley Stadium. He had played a pivotal role in launching the modern-day genre of Americana music, which today features bands like the Lumineers, Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons. All of this was an outgrowth of Levon's role as drummer, mandolin player and vocalist for The Band.
But even more important than the global success of The Band was that which unfolded during the last years of Levon's life, and his final act as an artist and musician. Levon's last-ditch scramble for survival, as he recovered from cancer and bankruptcy, was not only successful, it shifted the music industry paradigm.
Levon's comeback was triggered by the Midnight Rambles, intimate house concerts he staged at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, the very building he almost lost to the bank. And his rager of a recovery, his blazing path to redemption, the dying plea he unleashed and the emphatic response he received from fans are all detailed in a new book by music journalist John W. Barry.
Levon Helm: Rock, Roll and Ramble-The Inside Story of the Man, the Music and the Midnight Ramble is a tale of tragedy and triumph set against a moving target of a music industry.
Scrambling to survive, Levon Helm kicked back and he kicked back hard. And all he did to execute a vision decades in the making was turn the knob on his front door and invite his audience into Levon Helm Studios. Faced with foreclosure, Levon staged "rent parties" that, if not successful, would at the very least let him "go out with a bang," as he said. Those rent parties turned into the Midnight Ramble.
Ultimately, this rock star would find salvation in a federal bankruptcy court in Poughkeepsie, New York, where a judge approved his proposal to use revenue from the Midnight Ramble to pay off his debts. The Town of Woodstock and the music business would never be the same.
The Midnight Ramble began without a budget for anything. But word quickly spread among Levon's fans and his musical colleagues, old and new.
Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Mumford & Sons, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and My Morning Jacket were just a few of the musical acts that made pilgrimages to the building known as The Barn. As if all of this wasn't enough, Levon released three comeback records inspired by the Ramble-Dirt Farmer, Electric Dirt and Ramble At The Ryman. Each won a Grammy.
On hand for just about all of this was music journalist John W. Barry, who at the time lived in Woodstock and was employed in New York's Hudson Valley as music writer for the Poughkeepsie Journal, a Gannett daily newspaper and part of the USA Today Network. As he wrote about Levon for the Poughkeepsie Journal, USA Today Network and RollingStone.com, John became a steady presence at Levon Helm Studios. And Levon invited him to chronicle the achievements and travails that were capping his life.
John was given access to Levon and permission to compile hours upon hours of recordings that captured the why and the how of one of the most stunning comebacks in modern music. And John was the only writer at Levon's side after he launched the Midnight Ramble.
This story of a musician who, when sprawled out on skids places a final bet with his last buck, only to come up aces, is a story unbound by time that transcends music and popular culture to redefine modern American history. Levon Helm: He rocked, he rolled, he Rambled.
