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Toolin' Around Woodstock With Levon Helm
Arlen Roth, Levon Helm
Toolin' Around Woodstock With Levon Helm
Genres: Blues, Pop, Rock, Metal
 
  •  Track Listings (14) - Disc #1

Guitarist extraordinaire and ''Master of the Telecaster'' Arlen Roth teams up with music legend Levon Helm on this instant roots/rock classic recorded at Helm's studio in Woodstock, NY. Helm's drumming and singing give jus...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Arlen Roth, Levon Helm
Title: Toolin' Around Woodstock With Levon Helm
Members Wishing: 8
Total Copies: 0
Label: Aquinnah Records
Original Release Date: 1/1/2008
Re-Release Date: 2/19/2008
Genres: Blues, Pop, Rock, Metal
Styles: Electric Blues, Modern Blues, Blues Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 625989575624

Synopsis

Product Description
Guitarist extraordinaire and ''Master of the Telecaster'' Arlen Roth teams up with music legend Levon Helm on this instant roots/rock classic recorded at Helm's studio in Woodstock, NY. Helm's drumming and singing give just the right ''down home'' feel to this musical joyride through the songbooks of Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Bob Dylan, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Buck Owens and other greats. There are two wonderful Roth originals included as well. Joining the proceedings are special guests ''slide wizard'' Sonny Landreth, ''King of Dieselbilly'' Bill Kirchen, along with Arlen's daughter Lexie and Levon's daughter Amy who add their distinctive voices to several songs. Backed up by an a-list group of sidemen including Paul Ossola, Mike Merritt, Brian Mitchell, and Matt Rae, they tear through the album's 14 tracks with a freshness and spontaneity that wins the listener over from the very first track. The CD was produced by Roth and long time friend Jon Gershen.

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CD Reviews

Warm and friendly celebration of rootsy rock and blues
hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 02/26/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Guitarist Arlen Roth is best known to other guitarist (and those who employ them) rather than to the music-buying public. His work with Eric Anderson, Paul Simon, Pete Seeger, Rick Wakeman, Livingston Taylor and Loudon Wainright III have shown Roth to be a talented and flexible player, and his well-regarded series of instructional materials have shown him to be as adept at teaching as he is at performing. But his own releases, sprinkled throughout the decades from the '60s onward, have never broken as widely as his session work. His latest set, much of it cut live-in-the-studio, includes heavyweight roots-music friends Levon Helm, Bill Kirchen and Sonny Landreth. The set list is heavy on familiar covers, but the players' depth, and the depth of their musical friendships, gives this a dimension well beyond the songs themselves.



Though Helm's name was added to the title, Roth gets his share of the spotlight, both with his strings and with his voice. His work with a volume control on Santo and Johnny's "Sleepwalk" is as mesmerizing as the original's steel, and his edgy playing on an instrumental arrangement of Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man" is a worthy substitute for the vocal. Helm, fully recovered from a bout with throat cancer, drums throughout, provides a superbly earthy vocal on the opening rendition of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen," and serves up a suitably pained take on Buck Owens' "Cryin' Time." Bill Kirchen, the master of the Telecaster, proves an excellent duet partner (both guitar and vocal) on a cover of Joe South's "Games People Play," and Sonny Landreth's slide guitar adds boiling energy on "Tumblin'" and lazy blues on "Deep Feeling."



Roth's daughter Lexie (who's released her own album, "One Long Blink") is gussied up with strings and her dad's bluesy guitar on Willie Nelson's "Night Life," and she sings a duet with Helm's daughter Amy on a cover of Betty Everett's "Just One Look." A 41-minute bonus DVD shows the group at work and provides an interesting look at how musicians communicate in the process of creating music. Roth's low-key approach to this project, the musical talent of his guests, and the tight bonds of friendship between the players make this a warm celebration of rootsy rock and blues. 3-3/4 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]"
About as good as it gets!!!
Jake Vaughan | 02/20/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Levon Helm is singing better on this than his solo album! I found my favorite cuts are the pair with Bill Kirchen and Arlen singing together. Sonny Landreth and Arlen provide some great cuts, too. Good showcase for some guitar talent."
Leaving Levon
Larry Weinberg | San Francisco, CA USA | 02/21/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Great CD from a whole lot of my favorites. A great collection of songs perfectly done by some of our masters."