On Dec. 7, former members of the Allman Brothers Band and and collaborators will gather in Woodstock at Levon Helm Studios to pay tribute to the late Gregg Allman. The band will include Eric Krasno, Bruce Katz, and Jay Collins, plus Bill Sims Jr., Manuel Quintana, Chris Vitarello, Brandon Morrison, and Moses Patrou. The event, dubbed “Playin’ Up A Storm,” takes place on the eve of what would be Allman’s 71st birthday. Tickets are on sale now through the Levon Helm Studios website. 
Category: Woodstock
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Gregg Allman Tribute to Be Held at Levon Helm Studios
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Hearing Aide: Amy Helm ‘This Too Shall Light’
Amy Helm’s album This Too Shall Light comes out Friday, September 21 on Yep Roc Records. Produced by Grammy-award winning producer Joe Henry, this 10-track album delivers on illuminating a whole different side of Helm’s already unique songwriting style. Amy Helm left the comfort of her home in Woodstock, NY to record in Los Angeles at Union Recording Studios over a span of just four days. Along with a cast of stellar musicians and collaborators, Helm was able to pull together a collection of original songs and some covers to create a sonically vibrant album, guided by her rich vocal reflections, on the cyclic essence of life. While her past work was a bit more raw production wise, this album makes great use of stacked gospel harmonies while maintaining the fidelity of the instrumentals. Each song offers a steady build, but each also occupies a different level on the dynamic spectrum keeping the motion of the songs interesting.Something that stands out when the album is looked at as a whole is the organic feel of each recording. While the production is not pristine, it effectively acts as a nod to the authentic nature of the music, as well as the authenticity of Helm herself. She and her band went into the studio for four days without having really rehearsed the songs, giving the performances a feeling similar to that of Astral Weeks by Van Morrison. This experimentation, and the overall leap out of the comfort zone, payed off big for Helm in a genre mixture where authenticity breeds emotion. One song that stuck out was her original piece, “Odetta.” It sums up a lot of what the album is about musically; the loose interplay between the guitar and piano along with a percussive sync between the bass and subtle drum line give the song a steady pulse and interesting variety of melodic lines. Stacked on this are wonderfully produced and performed gospel harmonies. Helm’s pristine transitions from full-voiced resonance to her elegant lead voice are stunning. Her dynamic range is huge, and she’s able to emote the lyrics by the difference in her tonality. From her note attack to how she slowly fades out her lines, her control is apparent.
Amy Helm was able to carve out a fresh sound on a few covers, and offered a couple tribute songs to her father, Levon Helm (The Band). One of these tributes, a cover of the hymn “Gloryland,” showcased just how well these featured vocalists (Allison Russel, JT Nero, Adam Minkoff, and Doyle Bramhall II) can lock in with Helm and each other to create bright and vivid harmonies which sound like one big voice singing together. From the album’s beginning to end, the harmonies shine through the mix of just about every song and give them a characteristic gospel taste. Whereas the instruments tend to keep it on the loose side, these harmonies are air-tight without being overproduced – they were mixed in stereo to great effect. While the album doesn’t feature too much original material, Helm is able to make the covers interesting in a manner different than the originals. Specifically, in “Freedom for the Stallion” (Allen Toussaint’), Helm’s cover is steeped in gospel influence, and her vocals give the song new character, as she breathes a different perspective into the strong set of lyrics. She and the band are able to do this effectively throughout the album. It would be great to see more original work, but this is understandable since the timeline was so short, and that shortened timeline was a gamble that ultimately paid off. Overall, both the covers and original compositions that are on this album are wonderful and show signs of things to come as Amy Helm continues to build her discography.
Key Tracks: Odetta, Gloryland, Freedom for the Stallion
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Timing is Everything: Devon Allman discusses teaming up with Duane Betts, BBQ, the state of music today
The Devon Allman Project begins a swing through New York Tuesday, July 24, with a stop at Bearsville Theater in Woodstock. This is followed by dates in Rochester, Albany, Baldwinsville, and Pawling. The man with the legendary Allman Brothers bloodline has teamed up with another Allmans progeny, Duane Betts on a tour that has both men joining forces to display their own projects as well as pay tribute to their fathers’ legacies. NYS Music recently sat down with Allman to discuss the tour, being a father and the state of music today.
Mike Kohli: So is the band starting to gel yet?Devon Allman: Oh yeah, we rehearsed really hard six months prior. We were doing three to five days a week rehearsal for six months. I wanted us to come out already primed.
MK: You’re working with Duane as well on this tour.
DA: Yeah, he’s got a new EP out. He was in his dad’s band for years and a band called Dawes for maybe a year or two. So this is like the first time he’s come out and done his own stuff, fronted his own band. It’s exciting. He’s great.
MK: You’re sharing a rhythm section?
DA: Yeah, it’s an eight-piece band at the end of it. It’s a brilliant thing.
MK: Doing the tour with Duane Betts, a guy you kind of grew up with. This is something you guys, in a way, dreamed of doing, correct?
DA: We were hanging out with our dads. Their band was experiencing a pretty big renaissance. But that’s where we made our first bond just from being on that tour. I don’t think when we were kids we really had dreams of playing together, but as we grew into adults and started touring and making records, we talked about it. We knew it would be special. And that’s really what it’s all about. We don’t want to go out there and be a tribute band. There’s only one Allman Brothers. But we can certainly do our part to help keep some of their music alive.
MK: What was the trigger that made you guys decide, “We need to do this together?”
DA: It was just timing. I lost both parents inside of five months. I took a year off. I didn’t have the heart to go and perform. So I kind of rallied around my family. I spent a lot of time around my siblings and my son. Duane was wrapping up with Dawes. I knew I was going back out there. And I wanted to go back out there in a bigger fashion. So it made sense to team up. Timing is everything.
MK: So you’re going to be in Syracuse soon. You make your home in St. Louis, right? That’s a big BBQ town. (Laughs). Are you a partaker of the BBQ?
DA: So they say (laughs) I mean, I go back and forth with being a carnivore and not being a carnivore. St. Louis is really a big baseball town and a good blues town. And we have our own pizza. A lot of people don’t realize there is a St. Louis-style pizza and it’s amazing.
MK: Well, if you’re in a carnivorous stage while you’re up here, be sure to check out some of our BBQ.
DA: Is that where Dinosaur is? Oh yeah, I’ve partaken.
MK: Did you always feel that pull to become a musician? You were obviously exposed to music at a young age. Did you want to become a musician right off the bat?
DA: I fell in love with music when I was four years old. My mom used to spin a lot of vinyl. I was infatuated from then on. I saw my first concert at nine. I saw Cheap Trick. When Rick Neilsen pulled out that five-neck guitar, I mean that was it. The epitome of cool. I have to get in on this immediately. I started playing guitar at 13. I had dreams of it but I really never thought I’d get to do what I do. I just thought it was an untouchable magic act to tour and make records. I got lucky and I got to do it. And I put a lot of work into it too.
MK: You’re producing too, right? Also started your own record label?
DA: Yeah, it’s gonna launch this fall. I’m excited about it. I want to give some younger artists a chance to develop a following, become bonafide recording artists. I haven’t put a record out since Ride or Die. That one came out in, I think, late ’16. I’m definitely due. I’m going in the studio this fall so I’ll have a new record out in probably January.
MK: Is that going to come out on your label or are you going to shop it around?
DA: I’ll shop it around. We’ll see.
MK: I have a son the same age as yours. Does he have any interest in music? Are you persuading, dissuading him in regards to music?
DA: I’m really letting him feel his way. He played piano for years and years and he played some guitar. I don’t know. He starts college in the fall and he may end up playing music, he may not. I’m not really sure. But I would never persuade him and I would never try to steer him away from it either. I think his love affair, his passion, his career, that’s gonna be up to him.
MK: Absolutely. This is a bit of a scary time for me. This is my first kid going to college. You just hope you did things right along the way, ya know?
DA: I mean, I’ve spent 45 years either being somebody’s son or being a father to a son. That’s all over, it’s scary new territory. It’s exciting, but it’s also sad. I’m gonna miss having my kiddo around every night.
MK: What do you listen to?
DA: I spin vinyl at home, keeping my mom’s tradition alive. I probably have 500 records. It’s everything, man. There’s Nigerian jazz to thrash metal to Miles and Coltrane. I like to listen to jazz when I’m cooking. I cook a lot. Man, there’s everything.
MK: Any new artists that have been catching your ear lately?
DA: Yeah, man, Caroline Rose. She’s a badass. She really is. She’s a gifted songwriter and storyteller and singer. She’s great. I love the new Lucero record. Always loved Lucero. They’re from Memphis, friends of mine. I love just about everything from Jason Isbell lately. I love his records. He’s a friend. There’s good new music out there. You just have to dig for it.
MK: Do you recognize a renaissance of outlaw country happening, in artists like Isbell and Sturgill?
DA: I think it’s more a renaissance of organic music in general. Doesn’t matter the flavor. I think people that really get into music are looking for something that is real. There’s so much crap out there.
MK: Do you think a lot of it has to do with the environment the country is in now?
DA: No, I think it has to do with the fact that somewhere along the way, it might have started with MTV, ya know, as soon as you could become a TV star by way of music video, I think people started wanting to get into music to become a star, not to make good music. And that’s where it really started getting shitty. If somebody grabs a guitar and wants to tell you a deep story about something they’ve been through, that’s gonna hit you a lot harder than someone who grabs a guitar because they want to be on TV. I guess, since time immemorial in music we’ve had that. There was bubblegum music in the ’50s and ’60s. So it is what it is.
MK: So you have a good stretch of Upstate NY shows coming up, hitting up Woodstock’s Bearsville Theater. Have you been to Levon Helm Studio?
DA: No, I haven’t.
MK: Well, if you ever get the chance, that’s like a church.
DA: Yeah, I know. I’m a huge freak of The Band. I just got their whole vinyl collection, every album. Amazing.
MK: Speaking of Woodstock and taking in sites, do you ever get a chance to take in the towns that you’re touring through or is it more a load in, play your show, head on to the next?
DA: I’m able to a little bit more now because we finally graduated up to a tour bus so we’re arriving to the towns, waking up around 10:00 – 11:00 on the bus, ya know have the whole day until you get called for soundcheck. I went and did a little guitar shopping in New Orleans, vinyl shopping, got to take my men out for sushi in NYC, try to make the most of it.
MK: It’s good to finally have a bit of that luxury, if you will.
MK: We’ll see you on your upcoming Upstate dates. Thanks for your time.
DA: Thanks for your time today, I appreciate you. We’ll see you up north soon.
The Devon Allman Project is currently on tour with Duane Betts. New Yorkers have several opportunities to catch this unique show. Betts opens the show, performing music from his recent EP using Allman’s rhythm section. Allman follows with a set of his own material and for the encore, all the musicians take the stage to pay tribute to the Allman Brothers.
The tour hits Baldwinsville’s Bud Light Amphitheater at Paper Mill Island on Saturday, July 28. Tickets are still available for the show through Ticketfly.
Devon Allman Project/Duane Betts Tour Dates:
July 24 – Bearsville Theater – Woodstock, NY
July 26 – Party in the Park – Rochester, NY
July 28 – Bud Light Amphitheater – Baldwinsville, NY
July 29 – Darryl’s House – Pawling, NY
Aug. 3 – Flood City Music Fest – Johnstown, PA
Aug. 4 – Jergel’s Rhythm Grille – Warrendale, PA
Aug. 5 – Music by the Bay – Ajax, ON, Canada
Aug. 7 – Music by the Bay – Ajax, ON, Canada
Aug. 8 – Kent Stage – Kent, OH
Aug. 9 – Arcada Theater – Saint Anne Woods, IL
Aug. 11 – Riverside Park – Rushville, IN
Aug. 12 – Prairie Magic Music Festival – Valparaiso, IN -
Drive By Truckers Solo Show Rocks Woodstock
Southern rockers Drive By Truckers took a free night amid their Summer tour with Tedeschi Trucks Band and The Wheels of Soul tour to play a rocking show in Woodstock, NY. The Colony, a beautifully restored building in the heart of Woodstock, hosted a full house of excited fans, braving the heat, to hear the five piece group play some of their time-tested favorites along with some new songs that will appear on their next album.
Facing these turbulent times the only way they know how, The Drive By Truckers tackle today’s issues with straight forward and honest lyrics. Showing that they’re in the same boat as many of us, trying to make sense of a world that is making less and less sense.
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New York Series: Joni Mitchell ‘Woodstock’
Woodstock. If you’re not from the Hudson Valley, chances are when you hear that name, you have a similar thought as everyone else: a monumental music festival that took place over three days with a bunch of hippies on some farm in upstate New York that changed the world as we know it. Everyone has a story about their dad’s friend who stayed around for Hendrix’s famous Monday morning set, or their uncle who abandoned their car on Route 17B and walked six miles through Bethel to make it to the free-love oasis. Ironically, the most popular song written about the festival, “Woodstock,” was also written via hearsay and stories from friends by folk singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, who spent the weekend watching the festival unfold on television as just another fan in a New York apartment.
Despite being scheduled to appear at Woodstock, Mitchell cancelled her performance last minute on the advice of her agent, David Geffen, out of fear that she would not make it back to New York in time for her television appearance on The Dick Cavett Show. Watching the television coverage and hearing stories from her then boyfriend, Graham Nash, had such a profound impact on Mitchell that she wrote the ‘60s anthem within a few weeks of the festival and debuted it live at the Celebration of Big Sur festival the following September. Since then, it has been covered by countless artists, including her ex-boyfriend in his folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.
“Woodstock” tells the story of a narrator who encounters a boy on his way to the festival at Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel (not Woodstock as originally intended) who explains to her that he is going not only for the music, but also to live off the land and cleanse his soul. She joins him on his journey because she too feels the need for a spiritual awakening and wants to get away from the rigid life she is living. By the time they arrive at the festival, it is in full swing, and even better than what they had hoped. They find a fantastic celebration, and the idea of hope in a time when the world was so unstable.
What inspired Mitchell the most about the event was the fact that people could be so good to each other and coexist without any issues, even if just for a few days. In a 1995 interview, Mitchell said:
“The deprivation of not being able to go provided me with an intense angle on Woodstock. I was one of the fans. I was put in the position of being a kid who couldn’t make it. So I was glued to the media. And, at the time, I was going through a kind of born again Christian trip – not that I went to any church, I’d given up Christianity at an early age in Sunday school. But suddenly, as performers, we were in the position of having so many people look to us for leadership, and for some unknown reason, I took it seriously and decided I needed a guide and leaned on God. …So I was a little ‘God mad’ at the time, for lack of a better term, and I had been saying to myself, ‘Where are the modern miracles? Where are the modern miracles?’ Woodstock, for some reason, impressed me as being a modern miracle, like a modern day fishes-and-loaves story. For a herd of people that large to cooperate so well, it was pretty remarkable and there was tremendous optimism. So I wrote the song ‘Woodstock’ out of these feelings…”
Joni MitchellThe giving nature and comradery of Woodstock began before the festivities even started, however, when the original site of the festival in Woodstock, NY fell through. Just weeks before it was planned to take place, dairy farmer Max Yasgur offered up his farm in Bethel, NY as site of the festival, anticipating around 40,000 attendants. When it was all said and done, more than 400,000 people attended the festival, making Yasgur a counterculture hero to all those in attendance and countless others.
Joni Mitchell, Lake Mendota, NY, gatefold Hejira album, 1976 © Joel Bernstein The 1969 Woodstock festival put the town Bethel on the map, although many locals were not too excited about the new exposure at the time. Many of his neighbors were against the festival from the get-go and pushed to boycott Yasgur’s milk for years afterwards. However, nearly 50 years later, the site of the festival has only become more famous. Today the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a cultural non-profit that hosts concerts and events, exists on the site of Yasgur’s farm and has become a major stop for nationally touring artists. It was added to the National Registry of Historic Places by Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2017 who called the festival “a pivotal moment in both New York and American history.” There have even been talks about a Woodstock 50th anniversary festival being held at the site in the summer of 2019, but only time will tell if if it can summon the same magic that made the 1969 Woodstock festival so historic.
‘Woodstock’ Lyrics:
I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him where are you going
And this he told me
I’m going on down to Yasgur’s farm *
I’m going to join in a rock ‘n’ roll band
I’m going to camp out on the land
I’m going to try an’ get my soul freeWe are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the gardenThen can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it’s the time of man
I don’t know who I am
But you know life is for learningWe are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the gardenBy the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nationWe are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil’s bargain
And we’ve got to get ourselves
back to the garden -
The Weight Band Announces Release Date for ‘World Gone Mad’
The Weight Band, an assemblage of veteran musicians with connections to Woodstock, Levon Helm, and The Band, have announced the release date of their debut recording, World Gone Mad.
Throughout the storied history of the Midnight Ramble performances at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, New York, there have been multiple configurations of some of the same musicians for different host bands at “the barn.” The Levon Helm Band had morphed into the Midnight Ramble Band, followed by the Dirt Farmer Band, and most recently The Weight Band. Each of these ensembles has relied on a strong belief in the collaboration of all band members. The entire bands were the focus, rather than any individual being featured above the others. That spirit of collaboration is evident in the writing and recording of The Weight Band’s first full-length album, World Gone Mad, scheduled for CD and digital release on February 23.
Inclusion of two previously unreleased songs co-written by Levon Helm, “You’re Never Too Old (To Rock N Roll)” and “Common Man,” along with guest appearances by Jackie Greene and Randy Ciarlante, and a cover of the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter song, “Deal” give some added flavors to the half dozen original songs by The Weight Band.
Central New York music fans may recall a previous incarnation of the The Weight Band, with Byron Isaacs on bass and Ciarlante on drums from their appearance at The Camden Music Festival in 2014. Eventually, Albert Rogers and Michael Bram found their way into those respective slots, joining Jim Weider (guitar), Brian Mitchell (keys/accordion), and Marty Grebbs (keys/saxophone). All five members of the band contribute vocals to their sound.
The title song was a phrase Jim Weider has said he had kicking around in his head for about a year, until a bit of a melody came along to join it, and he collaborated with the renowned Canadian singer-songwriter Colin Linden to complete the tune. Weider and Linden had previously joined forces on several songs. These include “Remedy,” a version of which is included on World Gone Mad.
https://youtu.be/aouEP5OjB-0
The Weight Band will tour in support of their pending release, including four New York State appearances.
TOUR DATES:
Feb. 9 – Bergen Performing Arts Center – Englewood NJ
Feb. 10 – The Warehouse at FTC – Fairfield CT
Feb. 16 – Infinity Music Hall – Hartford CT *Album pre-release concert
Feb. 17 – Levon Helm Studios – Woodstock NY *CD release ramble
March 9 – Sportsmen’s Tavern – Buffalo, NY
March 10 – Anthology – Rochester, NY
March 11 – Center for the Arts of Homer – Homer, NY
March 30 – Beacon Theatre – Hopewell, VA
March 31 – McGlohen Theater at Spirit Square – Charlotte, NC
April 1 – City Winery – Atlanta, GA
April 4 – Crest Theatre – Delray Beach, FL
April 5 – King Center for the Performing Arts – Melbourne, FL
April 6 – Capitol Theatre – Clearwater, FL
April 7 – Center for Performing Arts – Bonita Springs, FL
April 19 – Narrows Center – Fall River, MA
April 27 – Fox Tucson Theatre – Tucson, AZ
April 29 – Belly Up Tavern – Solana Beach, CA
June 24 – Rocks, Ribs & Ridges Festival – Augusta, NJ
Aug. 20 – Camp Cripple Creek at Full Moon Resort – Big Indian, NY -
The Wood Brothers Warm The Egg on a Chilly Evening
The Wood Brothers brought their tour to The Egg Performing Arts Center in Albany, NY. The sold-out crowd dealt with the return of winter to hear some of the newest songs on their latest album, One Drop of Truth. The album was available at the merchandise table before its official release date of Friday, February 2. The brothers, Chris and Oliver Wood, and Jano Rix mixed new tunes with a healthy selection of Wood Brothers standards. Although, the crowd seemed more than happy to explore the new songs.
Before the evening was over The Wood Brothers brought out special guest Aaron Lipp from Rochester, NY and the opening band, The Stray Birds, to help out with the one-microphone part of the evening. The voices of The Wood Brothers and their guests blended in the solo microphone to create an “old timey” feel inside The Egg. The night also featured a Wood Brothers cover of the late Tom Petty’s hit “You Wreck Me.”