Be it blond hair or an affinity for football, a common trait can create a bond between family members. For singer-songwriter Amy Helm and her father, the late Levon Helm, it was an unmistakable talent for tunes. After a decade of playing in the elder Helm’s Midnight Ramble band and earning accolades for her role in the folk group Ollabelle, the multi-instrumentalist is ready to spread her own musical message. “I think that the job of a musician is to try and shake people out of their own heads for an hour or two and bring some joy into the world,” she says. Helm does just that with her band, the Handsome Strangers, serving up gospel- and blues-infused selections from her debut solo album, Didn’t It Rain.
