LEVON HELM > Dirt Farmer

For many, the basic facts here will provide ample excitement and information: After a throat cancer siege that had sidelined him as a vocalist for nearly a decade, Levon Helm is singing again and recording again.Label: VANGUARD
[RATING: 3.5]

For many, the basic facts here will provide ample excitement and information: After a throat cancer siege that had sidelined him as a vocalist for nearly a decade, Levon Helm is singing again and recording again. On this new CD he’s bringing that slightly roughened, but still unmistakable, indelibly soulful Arkansas voice that empowered so many of The Band’s strongest sides to songs as traditional as the Carter Family’s “Single Girl, Married Girl,” and as contemporary, surprising and seemingly built to suit him (now that he’s sung them) as Steve Earle’s ” The Mountain,” Buddy and Julie Miller’s “Wide River to Cross,”  and Paul Kennerley’s Basement Tape-goofys “Got Me a Woman.” With instrumentation to match, Helm’s special ability to make rock sound timeless and traditional tunes rock is fully on display.