A nice tribute to my favorite living musician, the last man standing.

Back in 2008 I went to a show Levon Helm did at the Ryman Auditorium. It was released as an album later "Ramble at the Ryman". 

It was an amazing show with Larry Campbell and Buddy Miller among an outstanding collection of musicians. 

I always liked The Band but the vibe and prodigious talent Levon put together was one of those peak life experiences. 

BTW, tonight I'm seeing Steve Earle with special guest Buddy Miller at the Ryman. All acoustic! 

@bdp24 

My love of The Band is well known, and perhaps becoming annoying. Sorry, but imo there is The Band, and then there is every other self-contained (songwriting, singing, ensemble musicianship) Rock 'n' Roll combo. 

 

We shouldn't have to suppress our our passion for art that matters to us!  

Thanks for the link -- it's a worthwhile video. 

Great to hear from youse guys!

@mashif: I saw the original lineup of Band in 1969, at the Berkeley Community Theater, a great sounding room. Their second album had just been released, an album that changed my life. I really relate to the statement the maker of the above video utters in the video: "The Band is really quite central to my conception of myself."

I had moved away from the SF Bay area just before The Last Waltz concert was announced (damnit!), but saw Levon again live at The House Of Blues in Hollywood sometime in the 2000’s. He was still recovering from his throat surgery, and wasn’t singing. But he had his daughter Amy along to sing on the tour, and a great band he had assembled. He was playing drums better than ever, and moved over to mandolin when Richie Hayward of Little Feat came up on stage to play on Levon’s drumset. Richie also played "pretty well".

I have yet to hear Buddy Miller live, but have heard Steve Earle live a few times, including on the tour he did with The Del McCoury Band (also at The House Of Blues), a fantastic show. Steve and the band played their acoustic instruments and sang into a single mic, and sounded amazing. I've also heard Buddy's good pal Jim Lauderdale live a few times, most recently just a few months back. Jim's a great songwriter and singer. The first time I saw him onstage was when he was playing acoustic guitar and singing harmony with Lucinda Williams, on the Car Wheels On A Gravel Road tour. Playing drums was Jim Christie, fresh out of Dwight Yoakam's band.

@mashif  - Did you enjoy the Steve Earle show? I just saw this Solo Acoustic Tour a couple of weeks ago at The Ludlow Garage in Cincinnati. It's a really small 350 seat venue. It was possible the best, or maybe second best, Steve Earle show I've seen out of the approx. 10 total Steve Earle shows I've seen. He was in top form and played a great set, including an excellent rendition of his son Justin Townes Earle's song "Harlen River Blues". Fantastic!

Yes, it was a fantastic show. Buddy played an hour of his songs with Emmylou and Regina McCrary joining in. Just guitar, cello, and upright bass. 

Steve was in top form and did about an hour solo, before bringing Emmylou, his sister Stacy, Lucinda Williams, and Buddy back out. 

Just amazing how an acoustic guitar and vocal can fill the room with a huge sound. 

@bdp24

I saw The Band for the first time August 17,1969. It was a rather large venue in Bethel, NY. That show changed my life too. 

I don't know if this will work but here's a picture.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/k84RgPwB1mw5rmF56

All the members of The Band had unique, very high level talent & together made some great music. My Dad bought their second album (the brown one) in 1969  after reading about it in Time magazine & while he liked it, it wasn’t his thing so he gave it to me & I’ve been a real fan ever since. Btw, the remastered version of the album on Qobuz is outstanding & captures some great harmonies by everyone & drumming by Levon Hellm that were a bit masked originally. 
 

I love the story about Garth Hudson who has a highly trained & skilled musician explaining to his parents that he was “ those guys” music teacher & why he was hanging out w/ them when they first got started. 
 

The Last Waltz is amongst the best concert movies ever w/ of course great music w/ many great guest musicians masterfully put together by Martin Scorsese. 

@mashif

I wish I has known you were at Bethel that day I would have said "Hey". So happens that was my 20th birthday. Not a bad party weekend actually. 

@jfd11 

Hey! Happy Belated Birthday 🎂

@mashif

Many thanks. Hope that your past 55 summers had the good vibes that one did.

Great video thanks for sharing!

@mashif 

I saw The Band for the first time August 17,1969. It was a rather large venue in Bethel, NY.

Lucky you. I grew up 40 minutes from Bethel but was just a little too young to attend that "rather large venue".

Yes, it was a fantastic show. Buddy played an hour of his songs with Emmylou and Regina McCrary joining in. Just guitar, cello, and upright bass. 

Steve was in top form and did about an hour solo, before bringing Emmylou, his sister Stacy, Lucinda Williams, and Buddy back out. 

Just amazing how an acoustic guitar and vocal can fill the room with a huge sound. 

Nice!  @mashif  , I don't like to get out much anymore, but I think I might have made an exception for that one.

@stuartk 

I feel very fortunate to have been born in NY in 1950. I was 14 when the Beatles played Shea Stadium, 15 sneaking into clubs in Greenwich Village,18 at Woodstock, and now still able to appreciate music. And thanks to my signing up for Audiogon, my music sounds better than ever.

@immatthewj 

It was an exception for me too. Only my second show since 2020. Bonnie Raitt coming up in November. Life's too short to give into my physical ailments. I gotta hear music! 

@mashif: I too am grateful for having been born in 1950. But when I met and became acquainted with Billy Swan in the 1990’s (we both lived in Sherman Oaks, California, as did Johnny Ramone and Dave Edmunds), he told me about seeing Elvis, Scotty (Moore), and Bill (Black)---Elvis had not yet hired drummer D.J. Fontana---perform in Tennessee on the back of a flatbed truck in 1956, I wished it had been 1940 instead!

My first live show was The Beach Boys in the Summer of ’64, and by the time I saw The Beatles in ’65 I had already seen all the San Jose Garage bands that popped up in the wake the British Invasion (The Syndicate Of Sound, The Chocolate Watchband, People, Stained Glass, etc.). Younger guys I meet are envious at my having seen Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, The Jeff Beck Group, and The Dead and Airplane in ’67 and ’68, but The Band and like-minded groups and artists made them obsolete to me.

And in my opinion, there is music being made now that’s as good as any I have ever heard. It’s a great time to be alive. It will be even better in a coupla months.

@bdp24 

We have lots of great memories and more to be made. Just have to hang in there with our favorites as we watch them disappear. If they can be out there touring, I can at least show up and listen. 

Yeah @mashif, older artists are leaving us behind in increasing regularity. The rest of this decade is going to be brutal. I'm encouraged that there are plenty of younger artists capable of taking their place. Maybe not on the level of a Bob Dylan, but he is a once-in-a-century phenomenon.

.

I saw Garth Hudson with The Ringo all star band like 20 years ago ,WoW.

Great thread… similar but rare are why i stick around this place.

Amy Helm….anything she has done..including her new album…. yes, a great time to be attending shows, buying and listening to music - new and old… and remembering those who are gone… I’ve got JJ Cale on the turntable…just now…. ah

and Rawlings / Welch headed my way…..

best to all

@tomic601: Jim, Amy joined Levon for the tour he did when he was still recovering from throat surgery, therefor unable to sing. I got to hear her singing on the stage at The House Of Blues on Sunset Blvd. sometime in the first decade of this century, with Levon playing drums better than ever.

I never made it to any of the shows held in Levon’s barn, darnit. Leading the band at a lot of those shows was Larry Campbell, who with his wife and singing/writing partner Teresa Williams will be on stage at Mississippi Studios in Portland next month. Can’t wait!

Also coming to town in November is JD McPherson, who has been playing guitar with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant for a coupla years. He’s a younger guy who plays in a cool Rockabilly style, a genre I love. He has a new album out I gotta pick up.

Looking forward to Gillian Welch/David Rawlings show at Haw River Ballroom, NC next week.