When you are the daughter of one of the most influential musicians of the last half-century, your name carries some weight. So, when Amy Helm (daughter of the legendary Levon Helm of The Band) takes the stage at Massey Hall tonight with her band The Handsome Strangers, she’s representing a tradition of Americana music that stretches back for decades. But, she’s also her own unique performer with a penchant for writing touching, personal songs that tug at the heartstrings. She’s in town opening for a couple other music icons: Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell. We caught up with Helm to chat about her new album; her late, great father; and tonight’s performance.
Why was it the right time to make a solo album?
It seemed the most natural next step after spending 10 years with Olabelle and 10 years kind of in the embrace of my dad’s band…. I really wanted to challenge myself to step forward and do what all my musical heroes have done — to lead a band and sing two hours of music and have to tell all those stories.
And you’re in town tonight opening up for Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, quite a show.
Oh, I am so excited about that show. To open up for her and Rodney is just, you know, it’s an incredible honour. To do it at Massey Hall is just phenomenal.
You must consider it a blessing to have had the time to include some contributions from your father on the record before he passed away, and to have him there for at least part of that process.
Yes it was. I was listening back to the songs that I recorded with him, and they are so special now and I’m so glad that I got to do that — that he is part of the album in the musical way. He wanted to see me do this before I even wanted to try and do it. Years before I was recording demos, co-writing, he was always encoring me to do that.
The album was actually scheduled for an earlier release, but you went back to work on it — what happened?
When I started making the album, I’d never done a show under my own name. As I went through the process, with gigs here and there, and a few turned into year and a half worth of gigs. And it was so much stronger than what the album was representing. So I wanted to go back and make sure all the stages of my life and this process was being represented — with my father, the earlier stuff that showed really the beginning of all of this and then the last phase with the live band really getting strong.
Was there a time when you questioned going into music? And if so, what happened to turn that around?
I did question. I have to say, I feel that through my entire life music has always just followed me. There were times when I’ve turned away and leaned into other things, it just always pulled me back in and made me feel better than anything else I was trying to do. So I just accepted it and dove in.
How have things changed since 2012 and your father passed away and what helped you refocus your efforts and move forward?
So much has changed since he passed away and I’ve sort of taken the step musically, by building this band, and putting the record out. It’s something I’ve been working hard on since he passed away. In my experience, with my dad, we keep the qualities of our parents who are not with us anymore that are strong and unique and we feel them inside ourselves in a different way. That’s what I’ve felt. I’ve tried to move forward and honor what he built…. He was extraordinary and inspired so many and it feels humbling and just really nice to remember that and try to do my best work and carry his joy around with me.
