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.