Amy Helm

Saturday, October 12, 2019 at 8:00 PM at the Emelin Theatre

The daughter of The Band’s legendary drummer and singer Levon Helm and singer/songwriter Libby Titus, Amy Helm began her musical career as a founding member of the alt-country collective Ollabelle and later served as a backing musician in her father's Midnight Ramble Band.

Her second album This Too Shall Light (2018), comprises a diverse range of influences including Americana, country, blues, and gospel, and the kinds of four-part harmonies that can burst open a melody and close the loop of an octave. Amy sought what she calls a “circular sound” for the album, which serves as a comprehensive portrait covering her life's journeys and recoveries; they’re the stories that, no matter where they take her, seem to end and begin in the same place like a circle.

Although a profound songwriter herself, Helm and Henry jointly arranged powerful new versions of songs including Rod Stewart’s “Mandolin Wind,” Allen Toussaint’s “Freedom for the Stallion,” and the Milk Carton Kids’ “Michigan.” The title track in particular, written by Hiss Golden Messenger’s MC Taylor and Josh Kaufman (Josh Ritter, Bob Weir, Craig Finn), is a brilliant summation of the record’s sound and spirit — a positive and proactive manipulation of the old adage that “This too shall pass.”