It was my sister, Cheryl, who introduced me to the music of The Band, around forty years ago when she presented me with a copy of “Rag Mama Rag”. She had remained in Adelaide to finish her schooling, while I was transported to a mining outpost in the cultural gulag of Dampier, in northwestern W.A. with my folks. Cheryl would keep me in touch, sending me the Top-40 charts with all the notable new entries highlighted with a circle. “Rag Mama Rag” got a circle.
Initially, The Band was not the revelation for me it would later become. I read about the near mythical ‘Big Pink’ album in Rolling Stone, and bought the self-titled brown album that followed it, but the roots of that music ran too deep for me at that age, and only later, did I understand what was really going on. But I loved that single and wondered how anyone could conjure a lyric about crawling on up to the railroad track to “let the 4:19 scratch my back”. It wasn’t like that insipid folk music from England, this stuff was real, had dirt on it. I had no idea at the time, but I was on the road to becoming a huge fan of American Roots music. And I can thank The Band for opening the door.
Of course, one of the many appealing things about The Band was the singing of Levon Helm. He has the heart and soul of America in that voice. But Levon’s was not the only distinctive voice in The Band. It wasn’t until the third album that the penny finally dropped for me. I was only fifteen when ‘Stage Fright’ came out but I loved that record. Still do.
Long after The Band had taken it’s last waltz, I bought Robbie Robertson’s first solo album. I liked it, but it was more of a Rock record than anything he’d done with The Band. It hinted at those roots, but never tried to recapture them.
When Darryl presented me with a copy of Levon Helm’s new album, ‘Electric Dirt’ over lunch, a couple of weeks ago, I was buzzed. I had already heard the album in the office and was amazed at how much it sounded like the Levon of old. ‘Electric Dirt’ has been playing in the car ever since and I’m still not tired of hearing it. The greatest surprise was in finding it actually exceeded my initial expectations. My doubt was fuelled by it’s predecessor, ‘Dirt Farmer’, released two years earlier. For some reason, ‘Dirt Farmer’ had failed to leave an impression and I was not expecting much difference this time.
Just to bring you up to speed, I should mention that, in 1998, Levon Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer. When he made ‘Dirt Farmer’ in ought-seven, his voice was still recovering from the operation. I’m not sure if I was aware of that fact when I first heard ‘Dirt Farmer’, but I did think his voice was a thinner, poorer facsimile of what it had once been. The album went on to win a Grammy but what does that really mean, nowadays? I stuck with my original impression, and ignored it.
The first song on ‘Electric Dirt’, however, signaled an immediate and positive shift. It was an old Grateful Dead song called, “Tennessee Jed” but being no great authority on the Dead, I wasn’t aware, until I did my homework. Still, “Tennessee Jed” is the song on the album I go back to more than most. It’s a fun song, great to sing along with and was co-written by Jerry Garcia with Robert Hunter, who collaborated with Dylan on the songs for his latest album. Levon’s voice sounded better as well. Not as strong as it was in the old days, of course, but as voices go, in much better shape than you might expect after a throat operation, and way more clear than Dylan’s has been at any time this century.
Among the other non-original tracks on ‘Electric Dirt’ are songs from Randy Newman, (the typically cynical, “Kingfish”), Muddy Waters, (“Stuff You Gotta Watch” and “You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had”) and Pops Staples, (“Move Along Train”). For the most part, they work, with only that second Muddy Waters title leaving me unconvinced, and probably, only because I love the original version so much more.
Of the two Helm originals, the best is called, “Growin’ Trade” about an aging farmer who can longer make a living from growing cotton like his forebears, and instead, has been forced to switch his crop to marijuana, simply to survive. He carries a shotgun on his shoulder “where a tote bag oughta be” and sees no dignity in nurturing a crop that is raised only to burn. It is a song that could have rested comfortably on an album by The Band, more than thirty years ago. When he sings the words, “I used to farm for a living, but now I’m in the growing trade”, he sounds, believable, broken, and convincing.
In light of the impression ‘Electric Dirt’ was making, I thought it time to revisit and perhaps, reappraise the merits of its predecessor. Yeah, I guess I was a little too harsh on ‘Dirt Farmer’ the first time, but ‘Electric Dirt’ is the still better of the two, mos’ def.
If you’re a fan of The Band, of Levon Helm’s voice, or of real, honest and unpretentious American Roots music, then this 69 year-old spring chicken may have just released the most inspired album of pure Americana you are likely to hear in 2009.
