The Band is… well a band… that I only started listening to over the past couple of years. I tend to go backwards with my music tastes. I hear something new and read about it and find all of these influences that I need to go back and find. The Band was that for me. Vocalist Levon Helm has an amazing voice. Right now I’m listening to the new Levon Helm album Electric Dirt.

I was aware of his previous album Dirt Farmer, it won a Grammy but didn’t invest much time in it. This new album struck me from first listen. Mainly covers, Grateful Dead, Dylan, Muddy Waters, Randy Newman and the like but one of the originals is very cool. It’s called Growin Trade and about an old cotton farmer that can’t make it work anymore so he decides to go with a marijuana crop just so he can survive.

Check out this great vision of Levon recording the album as well as performing live.