''American Son'' is a studio album by American country rock musician Levon Helm, who is most famous for his work as drummer for the rock group the

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. It was released in October 1980 on

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

and was Helm's third studio album. It had generally been considered Levon Helm's best solo work until the release of ''

Dirt Farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

'' in 2007.

Background

Helm played the part of

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Ma ...

's father in the 1980 film '' Coal Miner's Daughter'' and was asked to record a version of

Bill Monroe William Smith "Bill" Monroe (; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre take ...

's "

Blue Moon of Kentucky "Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a waltz written in 1945 by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and recorded by his band, the Blue Grass Boys. The song has since been recorded by many artists, including Elvis Presley and Paul McCartney. "Blue Moon of Kentu ...

" for the film's soundtrack. The session went well, and producer

Fred Carter, Jr. Fred F. Carter Jr. (December 31, 1933 – July 17, 2010) was an American guitarist, singer, producer and composer. Early career Carter was raised in the delta country in Winnsboro, the seat of Franklin Parish in northeastern Louisiana, Un ...

, decided to cut more tracks. Using a band of veteran Nashville session players, Carter and Helm recorded 20 tracks over two weeks, half of which ended up on ''American Son''.

Critical reception

'' ''Billboard'''s'' reviewers noted that the album was more rock-like than country-like and pleasant to listen to. The authors also suggested that due to the success of the film, which starred Levon Helm, sales of the disc would be high.

Track listing

# "Watermelon Time in Georgia" (

Harlan Howard Harlan Perry Howard (September 8, 1927 – March 3, 2002) was an American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote many popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists. C ...

) – 3:53 # "Dance Me Down Easy" (Larry Henley,

Billy Burnette Dorsey William Burnette III (born May 8, 1953 in Memphis, Tennessee, United States) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who was part of the band Fleetwood Mac from 1987 to 1995. Burnette also had a brief career in acting. Family ba ...

) – 2:51 # "Violet Eyes" (

Tom Kimmel Tom Kimmel (born Thomas Eugene Hobbs II in 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and poet. Biography Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Kimmel grew up largely in small towns in south Alabama. He attended public schools and graduated from the Univer ...

) – 3:10 # "Stay with Me" (Fred Carter) – 3:03 # "America's Farm" (

Ronnie Rogers Randall "Ronnie" Rogers (born in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American country music singer and songwriter. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Rogers charted eight singles on the '' Billboard'' country charts, including the top 40 hits "Gonna Take ...

) – 3:09 # "

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" ( Keith Stegall, Stewart Harris,

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) – 4:04 # "China Girl" (Joe New, Jeff Silbar) – 3:19 # "Nashville Wimmin" (Howard) – 4:13 # "Blue House of Broken Hearts" (Bill Martin,

Todd Cerney Todd David Cerney (August 8, 1953 – March 14, 2011) was an American songwriter and musician. He composed " Good Morning Beautiful", a 2002 five-week country number one (Billboard) hit for Steve Holy (co-written with Zack Lyle); "The Blues Is M ...

) – 3:29 # "Sweet Peach Georgia Wine" (Ronnie Reynolds) – 3:51

Personnel

* Levon Helm – drums, vocals, backing vocals, harmonica * Jerry Shook – guitar, mandolin * Buddy Emmons – steel guitar *

Kenneth Buttrey Aaron Kenneth Buttrey (April 1, 1945 – September 12, 2004) was an American drummer and arranger. According to CMT, he was "one of the most influential session musicians in Nashville history". Buttrey was born in Nashville, Tennessee, became a ...

– drums *

Jerry Carrigan Jerry Kirby Carrigan (September 13, 1943 – June 22, 2019) was an American drummer and record producer. Early in his career he was a member of the original Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and later worked as a session musician in Nashville for over ...

– drums *

Hargus "Pig" Robbins Hargus Melvin Robbins (January 18, 1938 – January 30, 2022), known by his nickname "Pig," was an American session keyboard player. Having played on records for many artists, including John Stewart, Dolly Parton, Connie Smith, Patti Page, Lor ...

– piano, electric piano *

Bobby Ogdin Robert Ford Ogdin (born September, 1945) is a Nashville-based recording session pianist. He is best known as a member of Elvis Presley's TCB band. He performed on 20 of Presley's recordings and accompanied him on 45 live shows until Presleys' deat ...

– organ, electric piano * Billy Sanford – guitar *

Henry Strzelecki Henry Pershing Strzelecki (August 8, 1939 – December 30, 2014) was a Nashville studio musician who performed with Roy Orbison, Chet Atkins, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Eddy Arnold, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Ronnie Milsap, Merle Haggard, and ...

– bass, backing vocals * Mitch Humphries – organ, backing vocals * Steve Gibson – guitar, electric guitar * Steve Schaffer – bass * Clifford Robertson – organ * Beegie Adair – piano *

– backing vocals *

Buzz Cason James E. "Buzz" Cason (born November 27, 1939 in Nashville, Tennessee, United States) is an American rock singer, songwriter, record producer, and author. He was a founding member of The Casuals, Nashville's first rock and roll band. Together ...

– backing vocals * Buster Phillips – drums

Technical personnel

* Jim Foglesong – executive producer *

– producer, arranger, guitar, backing vocals * Joe Mills – engineer * Ernie Winfrey – engineer * Bobby Bradley – assistant engineer * George Osaki – art direction * Andy Engel – design * Joo Chung – cover illustration

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control 1980 albums Levon Helm albums MCA Records albums