Amy Helm brings her soulful songs and stellar vocals to St. James Hall on August 20
The daughter of the Band’s legendary drummer and singer Levon Helm is a musical force to be reckoned with in her own right
Amy Helm. Photo by Ebru Yildiz
MRG Live presents Amy Helm at St. James Hall on August 20 at 7 pm
WHEN IT COMES to the question of whether or not musical talent is an inheritable trait, the nature-versus-nurture debate might never be resolved. While genetics may very well have a role to play, the influence of growing up in a musical family—surrounded by various instruments and people who know how to play them—can’t be overlooked.
Amy Helm is the child of two accomplished musicians. Her mother, Libby Titus, was a singer, but was primarily known as a songwriter who cowrote with heavyweight tunesmiths including Burt Bacharach and Carly Simon. Her dad was Levon Helm, best known as the drummer for the Band—and the only American in the otherwise all-Canadian group—as well as the lead vocalist on many of its most iconic songs, including “The Weight”, “Up on Cripple Creek”, and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”.
If that’s not enough, Helm’s stepfather is Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen and her godmother is legendary soul and gospel singer Mavis Staples.
Did that lineage predestine the younger Helm to become a musician in her own right? All we know for sure is that she is one, and a prodigiously talented one at that. Sure, she got her start in her dad’s blues band, the Barn Burners, and has also performed as a guest musician on multiple albums by Fagen and Steely Dan, but before anyone accuses Helm of being a “nepo baby”, consider that she has also worked with the likes of Roseanne Cash and Mercury Rev. She’s just that damn good.
Helm’s most recent solo album, Silver City, is a showcase for her songwriting, which bridges folk and soul. She’s only playing two Canadian shows on her current tour, one at St. James Hall on August 20 and one the following evening on Salt Spring Island. She’ll be accompanied at both by guitarist Anthony da Costa in a stripped-down format that puts the focus on Helm’s stellar voice, which has been called “glorious” and “soaring” by NPR, and “impassioned” and “soul-stirring” by Rolling Stone.
That magazine, incidentally, included Levon Helm on its list of the 200 greatest singers of all time and its ranking of the 100 greatest drummers of all time. Nature or nurture? We'll let the eggheads hash that one out. 
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