The Band: A History

Levon Helm built The Barn in Woodstock as a place to keep making music, make a home and then when stuggles hit - through throat cancer and in the process, built something just as lasting with his daughter Amy, who grew up on that stage and has kept it running ever since he passed.

This episode is a tribute to that relationship, and a look at what's happening at Levon Helm Studios today, as a leadership dispute has put Amy's role there in question. We trace the history of the place, the people involved, and why we think the Barn only works when it's still in the family's hands.
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Levon Helm built The Barn in Woodstock as a place to keep making music through throat cancer — and in the process, built something just as lasting with his daughter Amy, who grew up on that stage and has kept it running ever since he passed. This episode is a tribute to that relationship, and a look at what's happening at Levon Helm Studios today, as a leadership dispute has put Amy's role there in question. We trace the history of the place, the people involved, and why we think the Barn only works when it's still in the family's hands.
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Jericho was the first Band studio album in sixteen years, and by the time it arrived a lot had changed. Richard Manuel was gone. Robbie Robertson was gone. What remained were Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson, joined by Jim Weider, Randy Ciarlante, and Richard Bell, trying to figure out what The Band could still sound like in the 1990s.

In this episode, I take a look at how Jericho finally came together after years of touring, a failed attempt at a record, and more than a little loss along the way. We talk through the songs, the players who helped make the album, and what was happening around the band when they stepped back into the studio.

It’s not a return to the past. It’s a later chapter. A record made by musicians who had already lived through the legend and were still trying to keep the music going.
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Before Jericho, there was Tombstone.

In this episode, we examine the Band’s abandoned 1990 Sony sessions, recorded with Jules Shear and ultimately rejected by the label.

Through the music and the context, we piece together what this project was meant to be and what it tells us about the Band’s struggle to redefine themselves in the early 1990s.
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This episode traces the final years of Richard Manuel, from The Band’s relentless touring in 1984–86 to his last night in Winter Park, Florida. We follow the grind of the road, the pressures that built around him, and the moments of beauty still present in his late performances. This is the story of a brilliant singer living through the hardest years of his life, the night everything changed, and the music and tributes he left behind.

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