Levon Helm is a terrific musician and Dirt Farmer is a great album. Still, if you'll notice, most of his songs are covers or standards. The same was true of his reunion with his former Band mates.

Robertson, meanwhile, produced three albums of quality, original material, with lyrics that echo the tone and style of much of the Band's better work. He may well be an asshole, and I have no doubt , given the musicianship of the other four Band members, that the music they created represented a collaborative effort. Still, the fact that Helm has done mostly covers since the Band broke up strongly suggests that it was Robertson (and Dylan) who wrote most of the lyrics.

I am not a musician, so I can't speak to RR's musical contribution.

Levon Helm is a terrific musician and Dirt Farmer is a great album. Still, if you'll notice, most of his songs are covers or standards. The same was true of his reunion with his former Band mates.

Robertson, meanwhile, produced three albums of quality, original material, with lyrics that echo the tone and style of much of the Band's better work. He may well be an asshole, and I have no doubt , given the musicianship of the other four Band members, that the music they created represented a collaborative effort. Still, the fact that Helm has done mostly covers since the Band broke up strongly suggests that it was Robertson (and Dylan) who wrote most of the lyrics.

I am not a musician, so I can't speak to RR's musical contribution.

Also mentioned months ago that I preferred his version of “Broken Arrow.” The gravity and gravitas of his voice added a weariness that rang truer than Rod's over produced cover complete with a gospel choir.

A lot of the impact was due to the great backing vocals by the late Rick Danko and Sammy BoDean. Same thing with “Storyville.” I couldn't believe that was Neil Young on my favorite track, Soapbox Preacher. For the first time, I could make out his singing.

He may not have written/performed everything on “Music for The Native Americans,” but it was a decent album. Best track wasn't his, Akua Tuta,, but Ghost Dance and Skinwalker more than made up for crap like “Golden Feather.”

Is he a moral ideal? Probably not, but Levon's got his own issues.

I love reading your accounts of what huge assholes these musicians these are; I don't know if that says more about me than the subject matter, though

Sidenote: Even though I hate the jerk, I'll still rank his solo on King Harvest as one of the Top 5 best I've ever heard.

Five, now that this post is up!