He saw the birth of rock and roll and though he’s too much of a gentleman to say it, his role in helping to keep that rebellious child healthy is more than just instrumental.

On May 26, 1940, Mark Lavon Helm was the second of four children born to Nell and Diamond Helm in Elaine, Arkansas. Diamond was a cotton farmer who entertained occasionally as a musician. The Helm’s loved music and often sang together. They listened to The Grand Ole Opry and Sonny Boy Williamson and his King Biscuit Entertainers regularly on the radio. A favorite family pastime was attending traveling music shows in the area. According to his 1993 autobiography, This Wheel’s On Fire, Levon recalls seeing his first live show, Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, at six years old. His description: “This really tattooed my brain. I’ve never forgotten it.” Hearing performers like Monroe and Williamson on the radio was one thing, seeing them live made a huge impression.

Levon’s father bought him his first guitar at age nine. At ten and eleven, whenever he wasn't in school or at work on the farm, the boy could be found at KFFA’s broadcasting studio in Helena, Arkansas, watching Sonny Boy Williamson do his radio show, King Biscuit Time. Helm made his younger sister Linda a string bass out of a washtub when he was twelve years old. She would play the bass while her brother slapped his thighs and played harmonica and guitar. They would sing songs learned at home and popular hits of the day, and billed themselves as “Lavon and Linda.” Because of their fresh faced good looks, obvious musical talent and Levon’s natural ability to win an audience with sheer personality and infectious rhythms, the pair consistently won talent contests along the Arkansas 4-H Club circuit.

In 1954, Levon was fourteen years old when he saw Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins do a show at Helena. Also performing was a young Elvis Presley with Scotty Moore on guitar, and Bill Black on stand-up bass. They did not have a drummer. The music was early jazz-fueled rockabilly, and the audience went wild. In ’55 he saw Elvis once more, before Presley’s star exploded. This time Presley had D.J. Fontana with him on drums and Bill Black was playing electric bass. Helm couldn’t get over the difference and thought it was the best band he’d seen. The added instruments gave the music solidity and depth. People jumped out of their seats dancing to the thunderous, heart-pumping, rhythms. The melting pot that was the Mississippi Delta had boiled over and evolved. It’s magnificently rich blues was uniting with all the powerful, new, spicy-hot sounds and textures that became rock and roll.

Natural progression led Levon to form his own rock band as a high school junior, called The Jungle Bush Beaters. While Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis were making teens everywhere crazed, Levon would practice, play, watch and learn. After seeing Jerry Lee’s drummer Jimmy Van Eaton, he seriously began thinking of playing the drums himself. Around this same time, the seventeen year old musician was invited by Conway Twitty to share the stage with Twitty and his Rock Housers. He had met Twitty when "Lavon and Linda" opened for him at a previous show. Helm was a personable, polite teen who took his music seriously, so Twitty allowed him to sit in whenever the opportunity arose.

Ronnie Hawkins came into Levon Helm’s life in 1957. A charismatic entertainer and front-man, Hawkins was gathering musicians to tour Canada where the shows and money were steady. Ronnie had a sharp eye for talent. He needed a drummer and Levon fit the bill. Fulfilling a promise to Nell and Diamond to finish high school, Levon joined Ronnie and his “Hawks” on the road. The young Arkansas farm boy, once a tractor driving champion, found himself driving Hawkins' Cadillac to gigs, happily aware that all the unknown adventures of rock and roll would be his destiny.

In ’59 Ronnie got The Hawks signed to Roulette Records. They had two hits, Forty Days and Mary Lou, sold 750,000 copies and appeared on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.

Hawkins and Helm recruited four more talented Canadian musicians in the early sixties, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson. Under Ronnie’s tutelage they would often perform until midnight and rehearse until four in the morning. Other bands began emulating their style, now they were the ones to watch and learn from.

Eventually, the students surpassed their teacher. Weary of Ronnie’s strict regulations, and eager to expand their own musical interests, the five decided to break from Hawkins. They called themselves “Levon and the Hawks.”

About 1965, Bob Dylan decided to change his sound. He was ready to “go electric” and wanted Levon and The Hawks to help him fire it up. The boys signed on to tour with Dylan but unfortunately Dylan’s die-hard folk fans resisted. Night after night of constant booing left Levon without the pleasure of seeing his audience enjoy themselves. He calls his drummer’s stool “the best seat in the house,” because he can see his fellow musicians and his audience simultaneously. What pleases him most, then and now, is that his audience is having a good time. He left the group temporarily and headed to Arkansas. Dylan and the rest of the band took up residence in Woodstock, N.Y. They rented a large, pink house where they wrote and rehearsed new material. Danko called for Helm to join them when Capitol Records gave them a recording contract.

Woodstock residents called them “the band,” so they kept the moniker. The name “The Band” fit. The sound was no frills rock and roll but far from simplistic. They fused every musical influence they were exposed to over the years as individuals and as a unit. The result was brilliant. Their development as musicians was perfected by years of playing. Living together at “Big Pink” allowed complete collaboration of their artistic expression. Americana and folklore themes, heart-wrenching ballads filled with naked emotion, majestic harmonies, hard driving rhythms, and exquisite instrumentation made critics, peers and fans realize that this music was unlike any heard before. Their first album, Music from Big Pink, released in July of 1968, made them household names and as a result they were invited to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show in autumn of ’69. Following Big Pink’s success the next album, called simply The Band, is considered by some as their masterpiece. They made seven albums total, including one live recording in 1972, Rock of Ages. Many of their hits such as The Weight, W.S. Walcott’s Medicine Show, and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, were spawned from stories of Levon’s beloved south.

Helm was working in Los Angeles in ’74, at a Sunset Blvd. hotel when he spotted a beautiful young brunette taking a dip in the pool. Her name was Sandra Dodd and when she looked up at him smiling, she didn’t recognize him at first. The charming musician offered to take the lovely lady for sushi and never looked back. They were married on September 7, 1981 in Woodstock and today remain at each other’s side.

The barn and studio Helm built in Woodstock, which became his permanent home, was just about complete in 1975. He invited Muddy Waters to his new studio and they recorded Muddy Waters in Woodstock. To the delight of everyone involved, it won a Grammy.

The Band held a farewell concert at Winterland in San Francisco on Thanksgiving 1976. It was a bittersweet time for many who felt the group’s demise was too soon. They called it The Last Waltz which included Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Muddy Waters, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and an all-star guest list of peers and friends that read like the "Who’s Who" of rock and roll. The event eventually sold as a triple album and was also filmed, becoming a historical “rockumentary.”

Group members went on to individual pursuits. Levon cut his debut album The RCO All-Stars, in 1977. His next effort was the self-titled Levon Helm, followed by American Son, released in 1980. That same year was pivotal as Helm turned his attention to acting. He played Loretta Lynn’s father in Coal Miner’s Daughter, winning great reviews for his first film appearance. He did another self-titled album and Hollywood again came knocking in ’83 giving Helm a role in The Right Stuff. The authenticity he brings to his characters has brought him numerous movie roles from 1980 to date. Levon gave a sensitive, convincing portrayal of a destitute blind man in the 2005 Tommy Lee Jones' vehicle, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. In 2007 he filmed Shooter with Mark Wahlberg. Helm recently portrayed Confederate General John Bell Hood in a movie called In the Electric Mist, again with his friend Tommy Lee Jones.

Rick Danko and Levon reunited to play music after Danko had been living in California. Rick moved back to Woodstock and the friends did an acoustic tour in early ’83. In San Jose the following year, they received excellent reviews when Hudson and Manuel joined them for their first U.S. appearance as The Band since 1976. They continued playing together until the tragic death of their dear friend and comrade, the forty-two year old Manuel.

During the 90’s three more Band albums were recorded. Jericho, High on the Hog, ending with Jubilation. In 1998, Levon was diagnosed with throat cancer and the famous voice with the rich southern nuances was silenced to a whisper. He still played the drums, mandolin and harmonica, often performing with his daughter, Amy Helm, also a vocalist and instrumentalist. A great emotional support to her father during this time, Amy continues to appear with him regularly at Levon Helm Studios. In 1999, Helm endured another tragic loss when Rick Danko passed away the day after his birthday at fifty-six years old. His death marked the end of an era.

Today, Levon’s voice has miraculously recovered. He is singing again, strong and clear. His imagination and vision conceived The Midnight Ramble Sessions, a series of live performances at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock. Named for the traveling minstrel shows of his youth, the first Midnight Ramble was held in January, 2004. It featured one of the last performances by great blues pianist, Johnnie Johnson. Friends old and new have joined Levon on his stage including: Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, John Sebastian, Allan Toussaint, Elvis Costello, Larry Campbell, Jimmy Vivino, Hubert Sumlin, Little Sammy Davis, The Boxmasters, The Muddy Waters Band, The Swell Season, Donald Fagen, Hipmotism, Ollabelle, The Alexis P. Suter Band, The Love Trio, The Bruce Katz Band, Sex Mob and The Brian Mitchell Band. The monthly Rambles have been so successful they are usually sold out in advance.

New releases produced by Levon Helm Studios are Volume I and II of The Midnight Ramble Sessions, plus a live RCO All-Stars performance from New Year’s Eve 1977, at the Palladium which came from Helm’s personal “vault.” The vitality and magnetism of these recordings speak for themselves. In September of 2007, Dirt Farmer Music and Vanguard Records released Dirt Farmer, Levon's first solo, studio album in twenty-five years. A project particularly close to his heart, the CD contains music reminiscent of his past and songs handed down from his parents. Dirt Farmer was awarded a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album in February 2008. Fans will be pleased that Helm has just finished his new follow-up CD, Electric Dirt. It's release date is June 30, 2009.

The intimacy of the shows performed at Levon’s hearth offer a hospitality and warmth found in no other venue, not to mention the excellence of the performances themselves, hosted by a man whose gifts are legendary. Though always an enthusiastic and passionate performer, today with sheer joy and gratitude, he effortlessly captivates his audience young and old, with a rhythmic power all his own. During a career that has spanned over five decades, Levon Helm has nurtured a tradition of professionalism with a deep respect for his craft and remains refreshingly genuine in a world that often compromises integrity. He is a master storyteller who weaves his tales with the magic thread of universality that ties us all. He beckons us to come in, sit awhile and enjoy. We see ourselves in his stories and we are home.

“Most of my career,” says Emmylou Harris, “I’ve been a finder of songs, a gatherer of songs, so this showcases, in part, that side of what I do.”

All I Intended To Be, its simple but evocative title borrowed from the lyric of a Billy Joe Shaver song, does far more than that. Her first solo album since 2003’s Stumble Into Grace, it is indeed a catalogue of Harris’s many gifts—as an interpreter, as an eloquent composer herself, as an inveterate musical explorer who’s been able to discover, rescue, and/or give new life to many a beautiful but overlooked country, bluegrass or folk tune. But the album also offers a living portrait of Harris, a recounting of her extraordinary history, through the many musicians and fellow singers she has collaborated with since the start of her solo career, so many of whom make appearances on these tracks. The all-star cast includes Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, the McGarrigle sisters, old friends from the Seldom Scene, Glenn D. Hardin of her legendary Hot Band, as well as some of the most versatile studio players around. It’s produced by Brian Ahern and engineered by Donivan Cowart, both of whom collaborated with Harris on such groundbreaking albums as Elite Hotel, Luxury Liner, and Blue Kentucky Girl.

Harris admits she had to grab studio time in between all of her other projects and
commitments—hitting the road with Neil Young and Elvis Costello, cutting All the Roadrunning and performing live with Mark Knopfler, assembling her Songbird boxed set of rarities, and going out with Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, and Buddy Miller for their Three Girls and a Buddy Tour. Yet All I Intended To Be, recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles between October 2005 and March 2008, manages to have a seamless quality. Harris says, “I’d have to credit Brian and Donivan, their sense of sound, their integrity and their ability to keep all those pieces together—things that were recorded in Canada, overdubbed in L.A., and brought back to Nashville, stuff done one guitar and vocal at a time, all the different layers, all the different charts. They know what they’re doing and know how to make things sound good without smoke and mirrors.”

Perhaps it’s also because Harris has chosen songs that, no matter how disparate their sources, illustrate similar themes of perseverance, faith, and fortitude. They range in tone from the intimate to the anthemic, united by Harris’s ability to channel the emotions of so many compelling characters. There’s grit, sadness, and just a touch of regret in tracks like Mark Germino’s “Broken Man’s Lament” and Merle Haggard’s “Kern River” that’s balanced by strength, wisdom and a healthy amount of hindsight on Tracy Chapman’s “All That You Have Is Your Soul” and Jude Johnson’s “Hold On.” Harris’s own “Take That Ride” is a forthright conversation with a God who may or may not be listening. By the time All I Intended To Be reaches a wistful but uplifting conclusion with “Beyond the Great Divide,” it’s tugging the soul as deeply as the heart, and the title that Harris chose reveals an even deeper, more personal, and spiritual meaning.

The album really began to take shape, Harris explains, with “Shores of White Sands,” a Jack Wesley Routh song about carrying on in the face of dashed romantic hopes. Harris had admired it when Warner Bros. Nashville artist Karen Brooks first cut the tune in 1982. How the song made it onto Harris’s album today, employing the original instrumental track from Brooks’ version, illustrates the feeling of collegiality and the air of serendipity that epitomize the entire process. Harris dedicates it to the memory of Doobie Brothers/Southern Pacific drummer Keith Knudsen, and that’s where the story begins.

As she explains, “Brian (Ahern) produced Karen’s record, Walk On, in the early 80s, and I always loved that track. I thought it was one of the most stunning things Brian ever did, and that’s saying a lot. I loved the song and thought at some point I might try my hand at it, and it just never came about. A few years ago I was doing a benefit for [St. Louis Cardinals manager] Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation in Walnut Creek, California. Keith was there with his band, and I hadn’t seen him in years. He had toured with me and played on some of my stuff. It wasn’t too long after that Keith died from cancer and I started thinking about that song again. I approached Brian and said, ‘Do you think that in honor of Keith we could use his original drum track for “Shores of White Sand” and build up a track of our own?’ We started asking around and with the blessing of Warners and Karen, we got her entire original track. We added a few things, but basically it’s that beautiful track I’m singing on and I’m so grateful to have it.”

Brooks herself came on board to add harmony vocals. Says Harris, “Karen has such a distinctive voice, a wonderful low sound, it’s not like anyone else. It’s really effective on ‘Broken Man’s Lament, where she duets with me.” Harris found the right pairings of friends and fellow artists throughout: “That was what was great, to put together these different pieces from different people who are so important to me. Working with John Starling, Mike Auldrege and Tom Gray from the original Seldom Scene—that goes all the way back to the early 70s when I was living in DC. What I’ve discovered over the years is all the different, incredible people I’ve gotten to work with, and this showcases a little bit of them.” She pauses, then, laughing, adds,” I’d have to do a whole boxed set to showcase everyone—and I already did that, didn’t I?”

She knew Dolly Parton would be perfect for the harmony on Harris’s self-penned “Gold”: “It’s got this little trill thing in it on the melody and nobody can do that like Dolly. I thought it would be wonderful to get her in. She had to keep canceling for various reasons, she was out in L.A., but she so wanted to do it, she actually got on a tour bus and drove all the way out from L.A. She got into Nashville that night and the next morning she came in and sang on the record. She was a real champ.”

To work with the McGarrigles, Harris traveled north to Saint-Sauver des Monts, near Montreal, where the sisters live and record. Says Harris, “I was trying to keep up with my writing and I always enjoy being around those girls, so it was a good excuse to go try and write. We wrote ‘How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower’ and ‘Sailing Round the Room’ and went to a little studio there in Saint Sauver and laid down a demo with a click track and put their harmonies on it. So the heart of those two songs is from those original demos. Of course we added a lot of stuff but Kate’s guitar playing is still the centerpiece. And getting their vocals, of course, was the real treasure.”

Each one of these tracks has a story behind it; just about every credit reveals a fascinating connection. Harris has created a touchstone to her fertile past to help define an even richer present. While she may be taking stock of where she’s been, she’s by no means summing up. As Harris, who’s been a recording artist for nearly 40 years, says, “I’m still trying to expand my listening horizons, to find the kind of music that resonates for what we know to be true at this point in our lives. When you get to be 60, it’s not like you stop living. In fact, I think you live more and do have something to say.”