For those of you who didn't know and might be interested, Levon Helm and his new band are playing the Joyous Lake in Woodstock every Wednesday night (almost). It's hot, and definitely worth a listen.

Levon is on drums, his daughter Amy is on keyboards and vocals, Frankie Ingrao has the bass, Pat O'Shea on guitar, Chris O'Leary is doing vocals too, also playing harp and slide. People have been sitting in with them just about every week, so you never know who might show up. One of those sorts of things.

O.K., so they aren't playing folk, exactly. O.K. so they're playing classic rhythm and blues -- but they're playing very, very well. Let's put it this way: if you go, I bet you'll be glad you did. Levon is in rare form. Naturally, Amy inherited tons of her dad's talent, including a major voice. The other guys are certainly no slouches, either.

Anyway, they start around tennish and are generally finished pretty early. If anyone wants more info, do let me know. Or you can call The Joyous Lake, of course. They know even more about it than I do, probably. Check it out.

Just where is Joyous Lake, Muffy? Is that Woodstock NY??
Please keep us up on that. I am a huge old "Band" devotee...

Kitty, The Joyous Lake is indeed in Woodstock. I'm sorry. I'm afraid that all this rurality is starting to turn even me into a parochial kind of a dudeOuch.

Levon has been playing there most Wednesday nights since December, however. Sometimes he has other gigs, so it's wise to call first. (The number at The Joyous Lake is -- and please note the new area code for Upstate NY -- 845-679-0367) As a matter of fact, I don't think he'll be there tonight. While I was out shopping earlier today, a few guys came up to me to inform me of just that. They introduced themselves as The Barn Burners' new opening act, calling themselves The Apple Pickers' Union. I don't know the names of these band's members (yet), but was told they will be playing solo at The Lake this week. They also asked me to please spread the word, so here it is.

The New Yorker magazine always put a blurb at the head of its performance listings that goes roughly, "Musicians and club owners lead complicated lives that are subject to change. It is therefore always advisable to call first." I always thought that was a particularly apt way to put it...

But yeah, come by and see Levon if you get the chance. You'll be glad you did. He's got his mojo working these days. Boy, does he ever. He's drumming so well, he'll probably be illegal before long... He's as relaxed as I've ever seen him in public too, popping in early so as to say hello to everyone he knows -- and to a lot of people he doesn't know while he's at it, just for good measure.

I don't know quite how to say it, but they've got that The Band sound. It's not that they're doing Band songs, because they aren't, but the new songs have that timeless, classic quality to them that was such a trademark. As for the covers they do, well, those get redefined, which was always another thing The Band did so well. IMHO, of course.

Not to go off on a tangent, but it's so cool that so many of the children of these legends have grown up to become fine musicians in their own right. Not all of them choose to earn a living at it, or even try to, but they all sure seem to have managed to pick up a lot of great stuff at their mom's and/or dad's knee...