Electric Dirt Music

Tennessee Jed

8/11/2010

Levon Helm was once the lone American among the four other Canadian members of the legendary rock group The Band. The very first track, Tennessee Jed, which is an old Grateful Dead tune (written by J. Garcia) caught my attention immediately. To the best of my knowledge this is the only studio recording of that song on lp or cd. It only appeared on the Dead's Europe '72 live albumn. It never made the Dead's greatest hits list. However, the FM albumn rock station KSHE (here in my hometown of St. Louis, MO) promoted the hell out of this song and it became very popular in our regional area. So I admit there is a personal bit of nostalgia here. But nevertheless I challenge you to absorb that same good feeling generated by that song. The rest of the albumn is very good too. But be careful, it's very 'country' in nature. Not that that's bad, but it's not going to sound like those old songs Levon did with The Band. I think it's kind of a sequel to his Dirt Farmer abumn (which I admit, I have not heard yet). But in my mind this is a fun albumn.

The King of Country Music's Greatest Impersonator

8/4/2010

After losing his voice to cancer of the vocal chord, Levon here shows he has recovered enough to give new life to the Roy Acuff impersonation he's been doing for over forty years.

Old Levon sounds great

7/10/2010

If you liked Levon Helm's vocals on the Last Waltz,liked the Band's music overall, also liked the country-style blues and country-folk that influenced them, then buy this recording immediately! Levon was nearing 70 years old when he recorded this, but no worries. He always sounded kind of old; now his voice just sounds more authentic to the material, and he sings just as powerfully as ever. Very natural recording sound, many tunes featuring the same horn players- such as Howard Johnson on Tuba- who graced all the Band's live recording, and it mercifully sounds un-processed and live,as you would expect. Of course Levon helped invent rock music, taking what Elvis and Little Richard and Jerry Lee started with the vocals and moved it to the next level in the late 60's. And he is still the gold standard. If you wish you could hear one of the original founders in full voice still, then this will do it for you.

Excellent CD

6/28/2010

This CD is tremendous! Buy it - along with Levon Helm's Dirt Farmer. You'll be glad you did! Both won grammy awards!

Good CD

4/18/2010

This is another good CD from Levon Helm. He delves into a combination of roots music from blues, folk and Americana.