Multi-instrumentalist and singer Amy Helm is set to perform at Carnegie Hall this Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Helm is currently touring in support of her new album, “What the Flood Leaves Behind,” a bluesy and soulful record that ruminates on family and place.
Helm’s album, recorded in Woodstock, NY, at her father’s recording studio, Levon Helms Studios — fondly referred to as The Barn — where her father hosted his legendary Midnight Rambles in the early 2000s. The album is rich with horns, guitar, and organs, all topped by Helm’s soulful soprano.
Helm’s musical roots run deep: she is the daughter of The Band’s Levon Helm and the daughter of Libby Titus, a musician and songwriter who has penned songs for such musical luminaries as Carly Simon. But Amy Helm, who is 51, has stood on her own with a successful career as a member of the Levon Helm Band, the Dirt Farmer Band, Ollabelle, and the Midnight Ramble Band. Now she has released her new, full-length album and its three leading singles, the upbeat “Breathing,” the ruminating “Out of Love,” and the unsettling exploration of addiction and recovery, “Cotton and the Cane.”
Helm describes the song “Cotton and the Cane” written with her friend and colleague, songwriter Mary Gauthier, as a “reminder of what we endure and how we land from those kinds of experiences. It’s a hopeful song and one of faith.”
Helm spoke with The West Virginia Daily News last week as she was traveling by bus into New York, breaking every now and then to fiddle with her GPS system.
“This is my first real tour,” she said. “I’m so excited.” After stopping by Carnegie Hall this Friday, Helm will tour across the U.S. through March, and then to Europe in June.
“It’s such a reward to get to play four-to-five nights a week with my band. I can’t wait to get into it,” she said.
Helm can’t help but gas up her band during her interview. “I have a most extraordinary band. They are profoundly talented musicians. I encourage young musicians to come see these guys,” she said. “We’re going to have a great show. The set list has a great flow to it. We’re going to move and dance, and we’re going to get reflective.”
Carnegie Hall is hosting a Mainstage Lounge gathering in the Museum Gallery before the show from 6:30-7:15.
Tickets to the show and to the Mainstage Lounge are available by calling Carnegie Hall’s box office at 304-645-1797 or by visiting carnegiehallwv.org.
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