Amy Helm | What the Flood Leaves Behind
(Renew Records)
Being the daughter of Libby Titus and Levon Helm would seem a thankless job, inviting constant comparison to titanic Hudson Valley talents of the past. But Amy Helm is doing just fine on her own, thank you very much—as evinced once again by her latest long player. Helm has forged her own path, marrying soul and Americana in equal measure, with a Rod Stewart-like ear for how to blend her singular songs with those she interprets or cowrites with others. Percolating horns (“Breathing”) push against acoustic textures (“Terminal B”). Al Jackson-like grooves power gems like the self-penned “Calling Home” and Helm’s strut, thankfully, never relaxes. Just listen to Daniel Norgren’s “Are We Running Out of Love?” for proof.
Yet, a jangling tinkle of mandolin decorates the brief “Carry It Alone,” linking her at once to her illustrious lineage and to a history both longer and deeper. Onstage, Helm displays a magnetism that translates well to wax—or to plastic, aluminum, digital file, what have you. Even when she veers dangerously close to classic rock, as with Steve Salett’s pedestrian “Sweet Mama,” she still owns it with a canny confidence. Helm is an uncommon, quiet joy in a world often too loud for its own good. What the Flood Leaves Behind is endlessly human. “I saw your name stitched in the starlight,” she sings plaintively in the album’s final track, “Renegade Heart.” That’s the kind of eternal Woodstock message we’ll always need.
This article appears in March 2022.
