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Solo Essentials: Levon Helm

Helm's solo catalog splits cleanly into two very different periods: a run of records in the years right after the group's farewell, and a genuine late-career comeback three decades later.

Levon Helm & the RCO All-Stars (1977). His first solo record, bringing in Paul Butterfield, Dr. John, and Steve Cropper, recorded not long after The Last Waltz.

Levon Helm (1978) and American Son (1980) and Levon Helm (1982). Recorded with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and other session players, more straightforward than anything he'd made with the group, and less essential unless you're chasing the full catalog.

Dirt Farmer (2007). The real reason to know Helm's solo work. His first studio album in twenty-five years, made with a voice partially recovered from throat cancer treatment, dedicated to his parents. Won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album.

Electric Dirt (2009). The follow-up, and winner of the first-ever Grammy for Best Americana Album, a genuinely notable full-circle moment given the group's own role in shaping that genre decades earlier.

Ramble at the Ryman (2011). A live album drawn from his Midnight Ramble sessions, which won Best Americana Album again.

For anyone who only wants one Helm solo record, Dirt Farmer is the one, both for its quality and for the story behind how it got made.