Levon Helm died this week. He had a compelling voice, a voice grounded in the land that demanded attention. I thought about posting a Levon Helm video, but there are so many places doing that. Insead, here is a video from Marc Cohn that absolutely nails the effect that listening to Levon Helm had on so many. It’s the best tribute that I can come up with.
Note: Sue Barrett is a music journalist from Australia who is an occasional contributor to FolkBlog. This piece appears by her gracious permission and she retains all rights to this article.
By Sue Barrett
And I thank my lucky stars/
And whoever’s up there in charge/
That I have music/
Cause I wouldn’t know where to start/
Without these songs inside my heart/
To show you who I am, who I am
Amongst the regulars at the local record store is a burly man who is an expert on all-things Bruce Springsteen. Recently, however, his focus (and one of his hands) was on the store’s advance copy of My Heart – the new CD from Doris Day (the same Doris Day who sold a million copies of ‘Sentimental Journey’ in the 1940s, who won an Oscar for the song ‘Que Sera, Sera’ in the 1950s and who received Golden Globe Awards as the world’s favorite actress in the 1960s).
Another album that has been playing on rotation at the record store is Suzi Quatro’s In The Spotlight. Like Doris, Suzi’s work covers more than just music – with Suzi appearing in a number of television shows, including Happy Days, Dempsey & Makepeace (‘Love You To Death’, Series 2) and Bob the Builder. Early in her music career, Suzi performed with her sister Patti (who went on to join the 1970s rock band, Fanny).
Coincidently, June and Jean Millington (both key members of Fanny) recently released a new CD, Play Like a Girl. As with Jessie Vintila, from the Australian indie/folk band The Lucky Wonders, June Millington has written about the importance of music to her inner self – “There’s nothing like the sound of music/To take my spirit home” (‘Ladies on the Stage’). These days, a large part of June’s time is taken up with The Institute for Musical Arts (www.ima.org), including its rock ’n’ roll programs for girls and young women.
With older musicians continuing to perform, and young musicians emerging, FolkBlog turned its attention to the experiences of two groups of musicians who are separated, in age, by around forty years.
A.O. (from the lost bois) and ALYNDA LEE SEGARRA (from Hurray for the Riff Raff) are in their 20s; whilst LUI COLLINS and GAYE ADEGBALOLA are now in their 60s…
Festival Radio is once again going green and taking names. Celapalooza, our annual celebration of St. Patrick’s Day and all things Celtic, is on the air. There will be over 40 hours of Celtic tunes in rotation, everything from Anuna to Zeptepi. Enjoy it while it lasts, because March 18th we will be back to regular variety folk programming.
