• SLOW -
  • SLOW -
  • SLOW -
  • NEWS -
  • SLOW -
  • SLOW -
  • SLOW -
  • Photos by Mikki Simeunovich -
Menu

SLOWCITY.CA

  • SLOW -
  • SLOW -
  • SLOW -
  • NEWS -
  • SLOW -
  • SLOW -
  • SLOW -
  • Photos by Mikki Simeunovich -
×

Amy Helm, photo by EbruYildiz

Amy Helm shall light up Oshawa Regent Theatre, tours with Matt Anderson

Will McGuirk April 25, 2019

By Will McGuirk

Being a mom has influenced Amy Helm’s music career just as much, if not more than, being the daughter of The Band’s Levon Helm and singer Libby Titus.

Helm is on tour with Matt Anderson, making a stop at the Regent Theatre in Oshawa on Friday, May 3, 2019. There are also dates May 10 and 11 at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on the tour which takes in Ontario and Eastern USA. The two singers met via producer Colin Linden when Helm was asked to contribute harmonies to Anderson’s albums. Helm describes Anderson’s voice as one which “opens time and space, opens the skies.”

Her own career opened with ‘Didn’t It Rain’ released in 2015. Her sophomore album ’This Too Shall Light’ arrived in 2018 on Yep Roc. The gap between the albums is explained by her choice to focus on her two children, on family rather than fame, she says in a phone interview from the road on the way to her infamous home in Woodstock, NY.

Growing up in such a famous musical family gave her first hand experience of the effects touring and recording schedules have on musicians. Alcoholism and addiction were a constant, absenteeism too. It was not a functional space to grow up in. In response she has strived to be better at balancing parenting with performing, to be as good a mom as she could be she says, thus the time between her albums.

Levon Helm passed away in 2012. Amy had reconciled with her father, nursing him in his decline, healing their relationship. They had grown closer over music, Amy played in his Midnight Ramble band, co-produced his Grammy winning album, ‘Dirt Farmer’ and recorded his album ‘Electric Dirt’ and ‘Ramble at the Ryman’, both of which won Grammys in the new category, Americana. It’s a name, Helm says, no musician, who falls under the genre, really likes.

It is a style which is said to begin with the influential rootsy rock ‘n roll of The Band. Regardless of the name of the genre, the work of Levon Helm and the other members of a group which bridged the musical heritage of Canada and the USA, is inside the songs of Amy Helm. And certainly being the daughter of Levon, and being the child of a drummer resonates deeply in her work.

On ‘This Too Shall Light’ there is a pronounced rhythm in all of the songs, a bounce, even in the slower numbers. Helm says the first thing she ever lays down when she sings, is the drums.

Producer Joe Henry wanted a spontaneity to the recording session so he had asked her not to rehearse or play around with the tracks ahead of schedule which took place over four days in Los Angeles. Helm says in reply the only thing she did do was sing along to a drum track.

Levon’s presence is felt on the album; “The Stones I Throw,” is a song he had originally released as Levon and the Hawks in 1965, and “Gloryland” is an a cappella hymnal which too was passed from the father to his daughter.

Besides covering her father’s work Helm also covers Rod Stewart’s “Mandolin Wind”, Allen Toussaint’s “Freedom for the Stallion” and the Milk Carton Kids’ “Michigan.”

The title track was written by Mick Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger. It is a play on the phrase “This Too Shall Pass,” and could be interpreted as the songs on the album are beacons which light up a life.

Most certainly with its mix of percussively driven folk spirituals and country blues it is an album which lights up with hope and optimism, the same light perhaps as a mother may see in the faces of her own children or of a father who meant the whole world to her.

Tags Amy Helm, Levon Helm, This Too Shall Light, Americana, Country, Soul, Blues, Oshawa, Canada, USA, Nice Marmot

2019 River & Sky line-up announced; U.S. Girls. Fucked Up, Hollerado headlining

Will McGuirk March 26, 2019

By Will McGuirk

River & Sky is not your average woodsy get-together. Nope the music/camping festival held at Fishers’ Paradise, Field, ON, July 18 to 21 2019, is an adventure trek into music, an alt-hike to get higher, a wilderness sleep-over with morning saunas, its glam-rock glamping, Camp Do The Right Thing, its feed and be fed, live and let thrive, and this year the soundtrack to your enviro-sustaining outing is just as progressive as the festival, with prog-punkers Fucked Up, the prog-discotech of U.S. Girls, the prog-pop of the Fast Romantics - get the picture, then get the tickets.

The R&S is one of the best, its enlightening and northern and cosmic, and after ten years, just got wonderfully weird, bringing in a broad list of bands reaching deep into their own community and as far out into the world as is possible for a small indie self-made north Ontario festival to go. And it seems such as thing can go far out.

In a press release director Peter Zwarich says celebrating inclusivity and acceptance is the goal and to that end world music is coming to the banks of the Sturgeon River.

“ We’re excited to feature Altin Gün, an Amsterdam-based band playing Turkish folk with a 1970s psychedelic-funk twist, Mdou Moctor, and his Tuareg band from Niger, who has been called the ‘Hendrix of the Sahara,’ the Austin duo Little Mazarn, with ethereal banjo and vocals by Lindsey Verrill, and New York City’s Gladys Lazer, the project of Tel Aviv-born drummer Gal Lazer,” he says. “We want everyone to soak in some nature and summertime vibes and feel at home at R&S.”

Regionally-related acts include Tommy & the Commies, Dirty Princes, Oli Palkovits, Slow Eaters, all from Sudbury, our pal Annie Sumi with ties to North Bay, and Lisa Marie Naponse of Atikameksheng Anishinawbek.

For a small festival with a sustainability goal, travelling by car and parking, are issues to be dealt with. To that end organisers have partnered with Temagami Outfitting Company to offer packaged canoe trips to Fishers’ Paradise.  Pine Falls Lodge will be the starting point for the Murray Creek Route.

What better way to arrive to a party in the North than in Voyageur style.

Here’s the details y’all need to know.

5-Day Advance Pass:
Get there a full day ahead of the festival’s official start: Arrive July 17 and stay until end of day July 21. $230 (includes HST and processing fees)

4-Day Advance Passes:
Arrive July 18 and stay until July 21. $210 (includes HST and processing fees)

3-Day Advance Passes:
Arrive July 19 and stay until the evening, July 21. $160 (includes HST and processing fees).

Full Day Passes (advance): Friday $75, Saturday $75, Sunday $30. Night Passes (advance): $55 (Thursday; Friday; Saturday)

Children 16 years and younger with their families get in for free.Dogs welcome on leashes. Must be spayed or neutered. Sauna and Swimming – yes, but always at your own risk. No Beer tent: BYOB at your campsite. Camping available in field and forest area on the property. Cost of camping (in a tent) included in the price. Trailers/RVs will pay a fee, depending on the size. .

Tags River and Sky, Festival, Field, North, Sudbury, North Bay, Punk, Folk, Soul, Disco, Fucked Up, Hollerado, Independent, Do It Yourself, Make Your Own Future
Screenshot 2023-06-10 at 10.18.16 PM.jpg
TownBrewery.jpeg
SecondWedge.png
Atria_logo.png
apologue_logo2.png
kv_eyes.jpg
Avanti_logo.png
RMG SQ.jpg
11666057_10154039986198378_4496427229864055720_n.jpg
COnvergenceSQ.png