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Don Was Discusses Love For Levon

03/21/2013
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(Radio.com) Back in October, a unprecedented group of artists came together to pay tribute to the late Levon Helm for one night only at New Jersey's Izod Center. Gregg Allman and Warren Haynes from The Allman Brothers Band, Joe Walsh from The Eagles, country stars Dierks Bentley and Eric Church, John Mayer, and Pink Floyd mastermind Roger Waters all played songs that Helm performed, both as a member of The Band and and on his final solo albums, 2007′s Dirt Farmer and 2009′s Electric Dirt.

Radio.com spoke to the event's co-musical director, Don Was, about Love For Levon, which was later released on CD, DVD and BluRay. Was has produced all of the Rolling Stones' albums for two decades, and has helmed sessions for Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Elton John and Ringo Starr, just to name a few. But he said that the Love For Levon show was one of the highlights of his career.

"The whole experience of being involved in the organization of, and the rehearsals, and the show, was a beautiful experience," Was said. "It's something � if you get four or five of those in the course of a lifetime, you're doing well. That was definitely one of those nights: it was a life-altering and life-affirming thing. It sounds like bull**** but it's really true. The whole was greater than the sum of the parts, and the sum of the parts was pretty spectacular."

The show (and the live releases) raised funds for Helm's family, to help them to maintain the Levon Helm Studio in Woodstock, N.Y., and continue the series of Midnight Ramble Sessions concerts there. That iconic spot was where Was and musical co-director Larry Campbell, a long-time member of Helm's band, held rehearsals. more on this story

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Copyright Radio.com/CBS Local - Excerpted here with permission.

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