Collaborators from the 1960s vie for 2009 Grammy award

Levon Helm, in this photo from February 2008, performs at one of the 'rambles' he frequently hosts at his home in Woodstock. (Freeman photo by Tania Barricklo)

Update – Levon Helm’s Electric Dirtwon a Grammy but Bob Dylan came up short.

Levon Helm, former member of The Band, is nominated for a Grammy for his CD Electric Dirt.

Bob Dylan is also nominated for the same award in the “Best Americana Album” category, for Together Through Life. Dylan has also been nominated for 2009 Grammy Awards in the “Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance” category, for “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” from Together Through Life. (the video is on the next page)

Since the Grammys are tied to album sales, it is expected that Dylan will beat Levon Helm.The show starts at 8 PM ET on CBS.

Dylan hired The Hawks from Ronnie Hawkins before they were called The Band to tour with him in 1966. Dylan’s conversion to rock and roll from folk was bringing out the jeering section which drove Helm crazy. He quit in England and was replaced for the rest of the tour.

Dylan ended the tour by having a motorcycle accident and holing up in his doctor’s cottage in Woodstock NY while the rumors of life and death swirled around him. The Band, laid up without a tour, rented a house is West Saugerties, NY they dubbed “The Big Pink”.

Hiding out with his band mates, Dylan started writing a new kind of music that was recorded and spun out as some of the earliest Dylan bootlegs. The music was different, funny, lose and based on Americana folk and rock music. In frustration with the bootleg copies, Columbia released it as The Basement Tapes in 1975.

Beyond Here Lies Nothing by Bob Dylan

From those practice sessions the Dylan backing group coalesced as The Band. Their first album was entitled Music from Big Pink. Dylan released out the weirdly wonderful John Wesley Harding full of mysterious people in half told stories.

In 1974 Dylan and The Band toured together. Dylan later appeared in their film The Last Waltz . According to Levon Helm’s autobiography, This Wheel’s on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band Dylan was still negotiating his terms minutes prior to going on stage.

Levon Helm and The Band split up about the same time as the movie was being filmed. An abortive reunion in the 1980s without Robbie Robertson was arranged by PEI’s Jack MacAndrew but it went flat.

Levon Helm continued to tour mostly with the Cate Brothers but didn’t record again until Dirt Farmer a few years ago. A cancer survivor, Helm is known for his Saturday night rambles – aka barn jam that attract the biggest names in the business.

Dylan’sTogether Through Life was an instant success no doubt due to its promotion with iTunes and the catchy video. Despite his age and raspy voice, Dylan continues to gain audience share. He found his creative muse in Texas blues for the last CD.  Dylan continues to be a phenomenally popular artist across all age groups.

Winnner- 2009 Grammy Award

Nominee 2009 Grammy Awards