Levon Helm, singer and drummer of the 60s group, The Band, has passed away. After backing up rocker Ronnie Hawkins (as the Hawks), and then Bob Dylan during his electric period, The Band became one of the most important groups of the 1960s and 1970s. Their music was a catalogue of Americana: folk, blues, Cajun, ragtime, country and rockabilly would be reverently paid homage in their sounds. The Band was an incredibly versatile group which featured three men trading lead vocals: Helm, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel (all of whom have now passed). In Thanksgiving of 1976, the Band gave their final concert, and featured many musical guests. The subsequent film
The Last Waltz (1978) and the album was a cross-section of American music, paying homage to the forms that inspired these five musicians. With such luminaries as Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and their former bosses Hawkins and Dylan, joining them onstage,
The Last Waltz is second only to
Woodstock in terms of capturing a monumental musical event on film. What sets these films apart from many concert documentaries is that they are also snapshots of the cultures that either inspired the musicians, or likewise studies of a culture that their sounds became an anthem to.
