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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Alexis Petridis

Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home review – a final blaze of glory for the late Band musician

Levon Helm and Mavis Staples in 2011, during the recording of Carry Me Home.
Levon Helm and Mavis Staples in 2011, during the recording of Carry Me Home. Photograph: Greg McKean

In the early noughties, Levon Helm began hosting live shows he called Midnight Rambles in a studio at his home in Woodstock, NY. It was a rare bright moment in the story of what happened to the members of the Band who weren’t Robbie Robertson in the years following the quintet’s split, a grim saga involving bitter enmity, addiction, suicide, bankruptcy and jail. The Midnight Rambles shows reinvigorated the drummer and vocalist’s career, led to two Grammy-winning solo albums and attracted a vast array of guests: Dr John, Drive-By Truckers, Elvis Costello, Donald Fagen, My Morning Jacket, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson.

Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home album artwork
Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home album artwork Photograph: Publicity image
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