On his first two solo albums, ex-Band member Levon Helm – the man whose vocals once lent gravity to a basically frivolous number like "Ophelia" – seemed content to churn out inconsequential pop, R&B and traditional folk music. The scattered highlights belonged mostly to the supporting players. It was hard to listen to Helm's classic voice lope halfheartedly through these lack luster records without feeling cheated.

But Helm's wonderful reading of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" on the Coal Miner's Daughter soundtrack showed that he could still care about a song. American Son is an extension of those sessions, a chance for the artist to sing country music and, more important, an attempt to say something specific about a subject close to Helm's heart – something that his previous LPs never did. An uneven overview of the South, the new album is terrific when it evokes simple moods (the rural determination of "Watermelon Time in Georgia," the desolation of "Blue House of Broken Hearts") and terrible when it tries to make a full-blown statement about the nation's crisis of faith ("America's Farm").

Sure, the ten tunes on American Son say less about the South than did the three verses of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." Yet what's encouraging here is that Levon Helm is singing again, not just marking time. With a voice like his, that makes all the difference in the world. (RS 327)

STEVE POND