AMY HELM : SILVER CITY

1. Love Supreme
2. Money On 7
3. Baby Come Back
4. If I Was King
5. Silver City
6. Hwy 81
7. Dear Louisiana
8. Amen Anyway
9. Mt. Guardian
10. Alameda

Label : Sun Records

Release Date : 2024

Length : 37:57

Review (Heaven) : Amy Helm was al veertig toen ze als soloartiest debuteerde met Didn’t It Rain (2015). Voordien was ze actief binnen (ze was één van de oprichters) het alt.country collectief Ollabelle en als lid van de begeleidingsgroep van haar vader, de legendarische Levon Helm, drummer/zanger van The Band. Je kunt haar dus gerust een veteraan noemen, zij het een veteraan met slechts vier platen op haar naam: na haar debuut volgden This Too Shall Light (2018) en het door Joe Henry geproduceerde What The Flood Leaves Behind (2021). Vorig jaar verscheen opvolger Silver City al in de VS. En hoewel het album nog steeds niet in Europa is uitgebracht, is het – net als zijn voorgangers – opnieuw zo indrukwekkend dat het ook hier onder de aandacht gebracht verdient te worden. Haar grootste troef is ook op dit album weer de superieure combinatie van soul, country en gospel die ze brengt met een uit duizenden herkenbare, soulvolle en wat gruizige stem. Het geluid van Silver City is groots en ruimtelijk, alsof het album in een kathedraal is opgenomen, wat goed past bij Helms af en toe jubelende uithalen, bijvoorbeeld in het titelnummer. De begeleiding is spaarzaam: gitaar, toetsen (vooral hammondorgel is bijzonder effectief), percussie en bas, met hier en daar ook blazers of een banjo (Hwy 81). Bijzonder is Love Supreme, het openingsnummer. We horen Helm haar gitaar en wat stemmen die zachtjes neuriën. Van daaruit ontstaat een ontroerend, intiem maar toch krachtig lied dat je al bijna naar adem happend achterlaat. En dat geldt eigenlijk voor alles wat volgt. Je hebt van die albums die hun geheimen slechts langzaam prijsgeven en die je dus echt een paar keer moet horen. Zo’n album is Silver City niet. Helm smijt pats boem haar hele emotionele hebben en houden in je gezicht: hier, doe er maar wat mee. Silver City is een album waarvan je hoopt dat het doorgaat en doorgaat en als het dan toch afgelopen is, wil je het direct weer draaien. En nog een keer, en nog een keer. Zó mooi is het. Om Amy Helm te citeren uit Amen Anyway: hallelujah, hallelujah, amen!

Review (Americana Highways) : Amy Helm is the immensely talented daughter of Levon Helm, drummer and co-lead singer for The Band. With that kind of background and a life infused with music, including years of playing and touring with Levon Helm, she has developed some serious chops. That talent is displayed front and center on Amy Helm’s upcoming album, Silver City, which is being released on September 6, 2024. Americana Highways had the opportunity to get a pre-release of the album. Silver City is Amy Helm’s fourth studio album. Intensely personal, each of the songs represent individual stories and glimpses into Helm’s life and experiences including her roles as artist, mother, wife, and woman, while also drawing inspiration from the strength and struggles of women generally. Helm began the process of writing the songs on this album reminiscing about a young fan named Katie who died from an overdose. While that story did not make it into this album, its theme perhaps provided inspiration for the heartbreaking “Amen Anyway.” Ultimately, Amy Helm viewed this album as representing a series of letters. As she says, “All of these songs were me speaking to somebody—either reaching out and asking questions, or asking them to reach back to me.” Amy Helm has a voice that’s rich, vibrant and soulful. Her emotional range rings through as her vocalization varies from almost a soft whisper to a full-throated plaintive wail. Instant comparisons can be drawn to the voices of other powerful women such as Susan Tedeschi, Ani DiFranco and Sara Bareilles. “Love Supreme” is the first offering. It starts out with a few guitar notes, lilting and a bit discordant, leading into Helm’s humming and soft vocals as she focuses on the best memories to cherish as time passes. The background vocals and harmonies on Silver City are simply lovely throughout all of the songs on the album. On “Money on 7,” Helm’s ode to shunting away the fears of the night with each sunrise, the harmonies bring an almost gospel feel to the song. Helm admits her difficulty in writing the song “Silver City,” as it deals with a partner succumbing to the temptations of younger offerings resulting in a hurtful divorce. Helm’s voice draws the listener into her world and into the experiences and feelings she shares, taking one down her paths. Through her songs and her voice, as she opens her soul to examination, Helm achieves a kind of emotional release as if to say, life is hard and tests us all, but we will overcome in the end. While the ten songs on Silver City portray raw personal emotion and angst, they never become maudlin or exercises in self-pity. Instead, they are deeply cathartic, also allowing the listener to find a kind of emotional release. “Amen Anyway” takes you to the depths of Helm’s sorrow as she reflects on human frailty and the intense sense of loss. Starting simply with Josh Kaufman’s gentle keyboard, the lyrics and backing are spare and essential to the core of the message about succumbing to personal fragility. As Helm sings “In the voice of my love before he OD’d in Atlanta/Who told me angels have to learn to sing alone,” her loss becomes palpable and tangible as she repeats in a whisper “alone, so alone.” As you imagine Helm hanging her head in sorrow, a heavenly crescendo begins with trombone notes and backing vocals. Helm’s voice then soars with inner strength and determination through the chorus. No listener can remain untouched by this poignant, haunting song. While the tempo picks up with “Mount Guardian,” the message is no less painful as the loss of a spouse leaves one with the trials of single parenting—challenges that are met head on and successfully. If there is any complaint to offer about Silver City, it is that each song simply seems to end too soon, leaving the listener wanting more. Amy Helm is backed by an impressive and deeply talented group of musicians on the album. Her supporting artists include Josh Kaufman (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, organ), Daniel Littleton (acoustic and electric guitar), Annie Nero (upright and center bass), Charley Drayton and Tony Mason (drums, percussion), Stuart Bogie (tenor sax), Dave Nelson (trombone, trumpet, euphonium, and brass choirs), Marco Benevento (organ), and Adam Minkoff (bass, percussion). Elizabeth Mitchell, Catherine Russell, Adam Minkoff and Zach Djanikian provide the background vocals. Silver City was produced by Josh Kaufman, with Charley Drayton co-producing “Mount Guardian.” The album was mixed and mastered by D. James Goodwin. Goodwin and Kaufman shared the engineering duties on the tracks, with assistance from Gillian Pelkonen and Connor Milton. Silver City was recorded at the Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY, and is being released on the historic Sun Record Company label. From a mixing and engineering standpoint, the work is spot on. Each performer’s contribution is distinctly present in the recording, layered and fitting seamlessly while adding a unique complimentary piece to the overall puzzle. The overall impact of the recording increases the immersive experience of the music and the impact of the lyrics. There are few works of music that can be characterized as truly cathartic. For me, Graham Nash’s 1971 album, Songs for Beginners, was one of those works when it helped me deal with loss during my late teens. Silver City reaches this level of catharsis for Helm and likely for the listener. Experiencing and witnessing the angst, sorrow, and palpable emotion associated with personal loss presented in this album perhaps will provide some comfort and release to those also dealing with personal issues. Silver City offers a unique addition to one’s overall musical experience to be revisited time and time again.

Review (Rock & Blues Muse) : “There’s no place like home” mused Judy Garland, and that cliché holds true for musicians too. On Silver City, released Sept. 6, singer/songwriter Amy Helm’s first album in three years, she returns to her dad Levon Helm’s Studio in Woodstock, New York to track these ten rootsy, introspective folk songs. And while that’s not specifically home, she has spent plenty of time there both working with her late dad and recording her two previous releases. That comfort is evident in the intimate, reflective and delicate performances of the ten tracks that comprise her fourth solo album. There’s a theme here too; “These stories are conversations….celebrating womanhood in all its complexities,” she writes in the pre-release notes. Helm plays guitar and piano sparingly but mainly sticks to vocals. Producer Josh Kaufman (who also contributes guitar, bass and keyboards) frames these songs around Helm’s stunning vocals. She delivers vulnerable clarity, infusing hints of soul, gospel and blues, at times even channeling Aretha Franklin who also balanced those genres. When she sings on “Money on 7” that “4am I’m trembling/ 5am I’m torn/ 6am I’m terrified/I’ll always be alone”, then lets the churchy backing singers loose with “What I’ve been through” she articulates the turmoil those lyrics express. For “If I Was King” Helm takes the persona of 17 year old Loretta Lee, a victim of domestic violence, thrown out of her home without her children lamenting “Broken bones/Blackened eyes/But I can see the devil in disguise” as the music softly percolates behind her. For the title track, Helm describes a marriage gone astray with the riveting details “And the lies I try/To hold and hide/Crash and burn at our kitchen table,” accompanying herself on piano and never mentioning the tune’s name in the lyrics. The melancholy mood continues on “HWY 81” and “Dear Louisiana” where low key horns float in and drift out, emphasizing the meditative vibe. Helm brings some church on “Amen Anyway,” a sad celestial song that seems to pay tribute to old boyfriend Sean Costello who died too young with “In the voice of my love before he OD’d in Atlanta/Who told me angels have to learn to sing alone.” Those striking and heartbreaking words are indicative of the deeply personal poetry the singer/songwriter unfurls on every track of this immaculately produced, written and performed set. The playing is predominantly acoustic based, but a strangulated electric guitar grinds out the chords to “Baby Come Back” with uplifting verses that borrow from Billie Holiday “To let you breathe/To see you whole/To thank God and bless the child that’s got her own” elevated by searing, yet touching gospel backing vocals. It’s the disc’s most propulsive moment and another example of Helm’s soaring voice. Clearly this is not what you’d choose to liven up your next party, nor does Helm intend it to be. It’s a rootsy, often intense and always earnest song cycle that doesn’t mince words, look towards, or perhaps even expect, commercial airplay. Every minute of Silver City’s just over half hour running time reflects Helm’s storytelling talents and private insights, often putting the listener in the shoes of the song’s protagonist without pointing fingers or casting blame. Working with wonderfully sympathetic musicians and a producer who understands her creative vision, Helm has created a minor masterpiece.

Review (Bluestown Music) : With her fourth album, ‘Silver City,’ singer-songwriter Amy Helm has made a personal statement about her emotions and fears in ten sung letters to women in her life and to herself. “No-one talks about the beauty of age, shame and fear about our past is so common to us, but ‘Silver City’ is about looking back and celebrating how we survived.”, according to Amy herself. ‘Silver City,’ recorded at Levon Helm’s (Amy’s late father) Studio in Woodstock, NY, is produced by Josh Kaufman who is responsible for the beautiful, often sparse orchestration of the songs, which gives Amy Helm the opportunity to bring her beautifully sung stories to the fore. One of the highlights of the album is If I Was King, a song about Amy’s great-grandmother, who was thrown out of her home by her husband (‘a fire and brimstone preacher’, according to Helm), in the late 19th century and had to survive without her children. After this emotionally sung and arranged song, Helm realized that all her songs were written as letters to somebody. For example, Hwy 81, is about her life as a touring musician and mother and Mt. Guardian is about being a single mother. Amen Anyway is a deeply emotional song about the loss of life, due to drugs or alcohol. But the second highlight of ‘Silver City’ is the angelically sung and beautifully arranged title song about divorcing your loved one. ‘Silver City’ is an impressive raw personal statement about emotions and angst, with which Amy Helm establishes herself as one of the great female storytellers in American music.