Levon HelmDirt Farmer | Vanguard  February 12,
2008 12:09:53 PM
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If there’s still any debate over who was the soul of the Band, it ends with this album — a collection of songs as evocative of the American prairies, hills, backwoods, and deltas as that group’s best work, albeit writ in a more homespun fashion. Sixty-seven-year-old Helm’s voice is frayed by the cancer he’s survived; yet the still-vibrant red-clay tones of his native Arkansas give breadth to these stories of hardscrabble lives torn by war, poverty, and love. He’s aided by a crack crew including his daughter Amy and ex-Dylan guitarist Larry Campbell, who together produced. But even alone, Helm, with his ringing mandolin and smoothly arcing vocal melodies, could have delivered a historic performance. Drumless arrangements allow these tales to linger in the air like specters. And fans of old-time music, that vague notion of a genre called Americana, and bedrock artists like Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard should find Dirt Farmer, Helm’s first solo disc in 25 years, appropriately haunting.
Levon Helm | Orpheum Theatre, 1 Hamilton Place, Boston | March 1 | 617.931.2000
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