LEVON HELM

When I was younger, I used to drive up to a bunch of turkeys, roll down the window and say something. They'd all gobble back at once.

Good times don't last long sometimes.

If things are going slow, I'm itchy.

Songs don't wear out. Good songs are good now. If they were a comfort during those hard times in the past, they'll be a comfort in today's age.

Forever Young, by Dylan, is one of my favorite songs.

It's different playing in a studio than it is playing live, of course.

The rock star stuff never came up for us. The Band was never attacked by groupies before, during or after any show that we ever played.

You got to pick one - pay your medical bills or pay the mortgage. Most people can't do both, and I'm no different.

I never subscribe to the stay-at-home policy. I'm not sick of the road or sick of eating in good restaurants around the country. I like to travel.

With horns and a full rhythm section, the drums always looked like the best seat in the house.

Well, somebody's got to sing. They won't hire you unless you sing.

A friend of mine took me to Memphis advised me that I should get in the musicians' union. He gave me a set of drums and said, Stay on the job, son.

We all love musical architecture; there's no doubt about that.

The way to do it is to put as much life into the song as I can. You can either get it to breathe or you can't.

I've always thought it was easier for girls to sing harmonies because their voices can go to that higher plane so much more easy than a male voice.

You can either make it come around or you can't. By the time we would be ready to record a song, we would know for sure that it was the best way we could do it.

Drums usually seem to tune themselves.

I like walking on the edge.

The Jungle Bush Beaters didn't last too long as a group, but we had a pretty good time while we did.

I've had all the lessons I could get. I've learned from everybody I've ever met.

Drums just always sounded like the most fun part of that good music for me.

If you pour some music on whatever's wrong, it'll sure help out.

Conway Twitty was always our local hero while I was growing up. He had a series of good bands. I wanted to sit in, if Conway would let me. And he did a couple of times.

I love horns, and the bigger the band, the better it sounds to my ear.

I had throat cancer, and I had to have radiation treatments, and I couldn't sing for a long time; and this was in '97. I had 28 radiation treatments. I didn't die, thank God.