WOODSTOCK >> Something stirred Amy Helm to grab a spot by the fireplace and pick up a mandolin.
The crowd moved in, slowly forming a half circle as some musician friends followed her cue and began picking and strumming, sensitive to the spirit that was building inside The Barn last Sunday.
“Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back,” Helm sang during the impromptu jam punctuated with grit and emotion.
The song, “Atlantic City,” wasn’t on the agenda for the open house at The Barn on April 19.
VIDEO: Scenes from the open house at The Barn on April 19.
In fact, a press release announcing the event that marked the third anniversary of Levon Helm’s death clearly noted there was to be no live music.
That was about to change as the legendary performer’s daughter mingled with fans, some coming as far away as Ontario, Canada, to celebrate his life and the imprint he left on the music world and his beloved home of Woodstock.
During the interaction, something moved Amy Helm.
It was that stirring, that quiet nudging to be true to the moment and the fans.
“Just being there with friends and being all together, we decided to play some songs to honor the day,” Helm said. “It felt like the right thing to do. It’s what he would have wanted.”
The whole day likely would have made the iconic American-roots musician and four-time Grammy winner pleased.
VIDEO: Fans gather at The Barn in Woodstock on April 19.
Sandra Dodd Helm, Levon’s wife, had opened the grounds for the day and warmly received guests, who roamed the property and shared picnic lunches outside.
They walked through corridors bearing his platinum records, awards, personal possessions and photographs.
Upstairs, a memorial of roses and a lighted candle was placed at the foot of the performer’s Gretsch USA Custom Red Sparkle drum set, while concert videos played on a screen above.
Some fans danced. Many smiled. Others cried.
“It was tremendous,” Amy Helm said. “I think that when other people share their love and their memories of someone, it helps keep our memory of them alive. It’s a very special thing to remember him with his fans.”
TIMELINE: Levon Helm, 1940-2012
Born in Elaine, Arkansas, on May 26, 1940, Mark Lavon Helm, who went on to become one of the most influential and endearing musicians of the 20th century, will represent the fourth in the Freeman’s monthly series “Music in the Hudson Valley, Music in the Catskills.”
Helm occupies a unique spot in the series, not only for his musical legacy but because he chose to put down roots in Woodstock, a community that wholly embraced him.
“That love was mutual,” his daughter said. “One of the last things he talked about with me was the love he had for this community.
“He wanted to build his life here as a working musician, and he felt loved and accepted by the old-timers here, who created this community, who raised their families here and who built their businesses here.”
Levon Helm built his studio barn off a gravel road on Plochmann Lane in 1975, but he already knew the area.
Early on, The Band backed Bob Dylan on his electric tours of 1965-66 and collaborated with him on the legendary “Basement Tapes,” recorded at a large, pink house they rented in West Saugerties.
The Band wrote and rehearsed material at the Ulster County house, releasing its first album, “Music from Big Pink” in July of 1968, a successful project that opened the door to national exposure, including an appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show” in 1969.
The Band, which had often featured Levon Helm on vocals, would go on to record seven albums and three more–“Jericho,” “High on the Hog” and “Jubilation”–at The Barn in the 90s after it had re-formed.
Publications like Rolling Stone later recognized him as one of the 100 greatest singers of all time, calling his voice the “equivalent of a sturdy old farmhouse that has stood for years in the fields, weathering all kinds of change yet remaining unmovable.”
Of course, Levon Helm’s Southern roots played into much of The Band’s material such as “Up on Cripple Creek,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “The Weight.”
His father, Jasper Diamond Helm, was a cotton farmer, and he and his wife, Emma Nell, exposed their four children to music when they were young.
Acording to the website, levonhelm.com, the family would often listen to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio and attend traveling music shows to see entertainers like Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys.
Levon Helm’s father gave him his first guitar when he was nine, and the boy would often spend time at KFFA’s broadcasting studio in Helena, Arkansas, watching Sonny Boy Williamson do his radio show, “King Biscuit Time.”
He and his younger sister, Linda, frequently performed at 4-H events, winning contests for their musical talent and “Levon’s natural ability to win an audience with sheer personality and infectious rhythms,” his website notes.
That charisma carried over into his adult life as Helm went on to forge a musical path for himself after the demise of The Band in 1976.
He had already branched out, building his studio on Plochmann Lane a year earlier.
The Barn, as it came to be known, would go on to host countless musicians over the years, beginning with Muddy Waters, who came up to cut “Muddy Waters in Woodstock,” which ended up winning the 1975 Grammy for best ethnic or traditional recording.
Two years later, Helm released his debut album, “The RCO All-Stars,” in 1977 followed by “American Son” in 1980.
In addition to his musical career, Helm landed roles in such films as “Coal Miner’s Daughter” in 1980; “The Right Stuff,” 1983; “Man Outside,” 1987; “Fire Down Below,” 1997 and his final one in 2009, “In the Electric Mist.”
Through all the highs and lows of life, Helm experienced a crushing blow in 1998 when he was diagnosed with throat cancer and lost his voice.
But he would persevere and through treatment, the musician would regain his voice and again find the strength to perform.
The remaining years would be dubbed the “miraculous encore,” according to Bill Flanagan of CBS “Sunday Morning.”
“It was as if heaven decided to give Levon an extra decade, just so we could all hear his songs one more time,” said the author and TV executive.
In fact, these would become reinvigorated years. Not only did Levon Helm go on to record three new albums, but they all won Grammy Awards.
Guitarist Jim Weider, who replaced Robbie Robertson in a reincarnation of The Band in 1985, worked regularly with Levon Helm in the last few years of his life.
“It was fantastic to be playing with him,” Weider said. “He was so happy. His daughter was with him, and he got to be a grandpa, and he won the Grammys.
PHOTOS: Levon Helm Lifetime Achievement Grammy celebration in Woodstock, February 2008
“He was tough, and when he did go through (cancer treatments), he waited and didn’t sing anything for a few years until he felt better, and then he came out singing again,” Weider said.
“Levon always gave 110 percent. His voice had such a resonance to it, and when he sang, he sang from the heart.”
That was about the time Helm conceived The Midnight Ramble Sessions, a series of live performances named for the traveling minstrel shows of his youth.
It kicked off in January 2004 and spotlighted big names like Emmylou Harris, John Sebastian, Elvis Costello, Donald Fagen and Kris Kristofferson among others.
“He had a fantastic group of people all around him, and it happened. It got that place rocking, and it’s still going. It’s what he always dreamed of-keeping the music alive at his house,” Weider said.
The monthly Rambles at The Barn have drawn worldwide audiences, and Helm’s daughter believes it is destined for greatness.
“It absolutely is a national musical landmark,” she said. “I have every bit of faith and belief that it will stay there and be that and become that, and I think it will be a place where musicians migrate for a long time to come.
“I’m very proud that it stands in a community like Woodstock,” she added.
“We live in a fantastic place, and there are a lot of beautiful people here, and that’s why he built his roots here. I think everybody resonates with that. It seems that it will just–with time and good music–become a kind of living museum of music.”
Regular concerts like the one on May 9 featuring Moonalice and The Midnight Ramble Band and the 75th birthday tribute to Levon by his daughter on May 29 are bound to push it in that direction.
So will events like the April 19 open house. According to Helm’s crew, the event drew 500 people over a three-hour period.
It doesn’t surprise Helm that people still are drawn to her father’s infectious, humanitarian spirit.
She saw that firsthand during his funeral on April 27, 2012, when 2,000 mourners came to pay their respects.
For the family, finding the space to mourn was a bit challenging, she said, given the popularity of her father.
“That was an unexpected aspect of it. I think all of us were very surprised by that and weren’t expecting the shared experience of grieving with the public.
“It was very moving and overwhelming and also comforting. In terms of our local Woodstock community, which my father claimed as his own, that was hugely supportive and certainly what got me through,” she said.
“It’s certainly been a journey, and every year is a little bit different, but I’ve gotten a lot of support from people who have been through this already. We have to be a light for others and just take it a day at a time,” Helm added.
PHOTOS: Levon Helm Memorial Boulevard dedication
“Certainly, time eases things, and we move forward in our lives and we start to grow the appearance of our parents and pass that down to our kids. It’s part of a continuation.”
That circle of life indeed moves forward for Amy Helm herself.
The 44-year-old mother of two boys is set to release her first solo album in June and tour in July with the legendary Mavis Staples and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Patty Griffin.
In time, she plans to take a second look at her father’s unreleased material.
“Certainly, there’s a beautiful archive of stuff we have to dig into to create more music, so we’ll definitely be doing that at some point in the future.”
Music in the Catskills, Music in the Valley
This is the fourth part in an occasional series exploring the musical strengths, traditions and influences of the area and those who make it happen. “Music in the Catskills, Music in the Valley” is set to run the last Sunday of every month in 2015.
