Levon Helm, Chris Ethridge

A lot of my Facebook pals have been linking into Levon Helm's music, particularly those precious scenes from The Last Waltz. The Scorsese concert film dates back to 1976 but it will never age. Shot on 35mm film and featuring all those ace players, it's the very best in company and proof that The Band could pull together the disparate elements of American music and make it all resonate. We've lost a lot of those guys now, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko and now Levon. And it's the latter musician, singing and playing drums on 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down' that moves the heart especially.

Levon's band mates were from Canada, but he was the real deal from Arkansas and he put himself so emphatically into that lyric about the Civil War. In the Last Waltz version, the horns were charted by Allan Touissaint, Robbie Robertson led the players, but it was Levon who made us understand the heavy heart of Virgil Caine in the winter of 1865.

Those same Facebook friends are sadly poised for news about Chris Ethridge, former member of the International Submarine Band and the Flying Burrito Brothers and a running mate of Gram Parsons. He is currently back in his hometown of Meridian Mississippi, apparently unwell. We send him love.