Having spent the better part of three years thinking and writing about Levon Helm, I have inevitably also devoted a lot of thought to The Weight, the mournful, elegiac, mysterious, inscrutable song written by Robbie Robertson and made famous by The Band. Somehow over the years, it evolved from a simple if elusive pop song to an existential hymn. Imbued by the grace that radiated from Levon as he stoically faced the struggles of his final decade, the song has acquired a larger dimension. In singing it, out loud and usually in company, we embrace the song’s lesson: to to accept the weight, to carry it without self-pity or terror, but with joy. In this list, many, many artists offer themselves to the song; it’s q quite beautiful to grasp that it has come to mean so much.
1.The Band at Woodstock
2. Easy Rider
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpH6u4skHLk
3.The Staples Singers
4. The Grateful Dead
http://Gww.youtube.com/watch?v=XWL4JH5OGB0
5.Levon Helm and Richie Havens
6. The Wallflowers and Eric Clapton
7. Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White
8. Weezer
9. Emmylou Harris and friends
10. The Decoys
11. Warren Haynes and Dr. John
12. Grant Lee Philipd and Avid McMullin
13. Trampled by Turtles
14. The Band at the Isle of Wight Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU0kknHmVeY
15. Gillian Welch and the Old Crow Medicine Show
16. Bruce Springsteen
17. The Punch Brothers
18. Waylon Jennings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhjU1fa2iYA
19. Little Feat
20. Mavis Staples, Nick Lowe and Wilco in rehearsal
21. Mavis Staples, Nick Lowe and Wilco performance
22. Eddie from Ohio
23. Train, Gavin DeGraw et al
24. Mad Driving Barons
25. Mumford and Sons
26. Black Keys and John Fogarty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfXcnX8STqU
27. The Levon Helm Band at the Ryman
28. The Ringo Starr All-Starr Band
29. The Band at the New Orleans Jazz Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNZn-7DL5nY
30. Jimmie Barnes
31. Tragically Hip and Kathleen Edwards
32. Jensen Ackles
33. Uncle Tupelo
34. The Lumineers
35. The Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssPYiXU
36. Aretha Franklin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wta5GU3FNhA
37. James Maddock and Willie Nile
38. Lee Anne Womack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odgGa6rXL3I
39. Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem
40. Levon Helm, John Anderson, Vasser Clements
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57sHr07klZk
41. Cheers Elephant
42. A Group Called Smith
43. James Dieffenbach and the Duke’s Men
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVVYIJ4CKiQ
44. Levon Helm and Elvis Costello
http://www.youtube.c/watch?v=uyXOjiVhH5U
45. The Band on Letterman
46. Sue Cunningham et al
47. At Merlefest
48. Conan O’brien
49. King Curtis
51. Levon Helm and Wilco
52. The Fundamentals
53. Nic Mingie
54. Vagabonds
55. Panic in the disco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYbWsJQmMss56
56. Mumford et al
57. Allman, Weir, Tedeschi
58. The Band and clapton
http://www.youtubEric C.com/watch?v=vElZF9K06e0
59. Bucket List
60. Half Dead Music
61. Mavis Staples and Billy Bragg
62. Levon Helm, John Hiatt, Mark Colie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDITKSVNJz8
63. The Chambers Bros
64. Spooky Tooth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRw1uae6m58
65. The Levon Helm Band and the Black Crows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJz7YhnSFUc
66. Travis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIJY61nAOqc
67. Eddie Vedder
68. The River and the Road & Dogwood and Dahlia
69. The Last Waltz Revisted
70. Jim James and the Levon Helm Band
71.Cassandra Wilson
72. rocKwiz
73. Bob Dylan, Jeff Tweedy et al on the 2013 Americanarama Tour
74. The Band The Last Waltz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjCw3-YTffo
75. Love for Levon finale
76. The Grammy Awards tribute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yunfRRZXRuc
77A. Gentlemen of the Road
77B. The Levon Helm Band