Bob Dylan called his former collaborator Levon Helm “one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation” in a note he posted online. Mr. Helm, former drummer and vocalist with the Band, which backed up Mr. Dylan in the 1960s, died of complications of cancer on Thursday at age 71.
Of Mr. Helm, Mr. Dylan wrote: “He was my bosom buddy friend to the end, one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation. This is just so sad to talk about. I still can remember the first day I met him and the last day I saw him. We go back pretty far and had been through some trials together. I’m going to miss him, as I’m sure a whole lot of others will too.”
Just before Mr. Helm’s death, Robbie Robertson, the Band’s guitarist, visited him in a Manhattan hospital. The two had started playing together in Canada as members of Ronnie Hawkins’s band; the Band became Mr. Dylan’s electrified back-up group before putting out their own albums.
But Mr. Robertson and Mr. Helm had not played together since the Band’s Last Waltz concert in 1976, when the group broke up with a fair bit of acrimony. Shortly after he saw Mr. Helm in the hospital, on April 8, Rolling Stone reported, Mr. Robertson issued a statement that included this tribute: “Levon is one of the most extraordinary talented people I’ve ever known and very much like an older brother to me. I am so grateful I got to see him one last time and will miss him and love him forever.”
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: April 24, 2012
Because of an editing error, a report in the “Arts, Briefly” column on Saturday about Bob Dylan’s recollections of collaborating with Levon Helm, the drummer and singer who died last week at 71, erroneously included Mr. Helm among the musicians pictured at a 1974 performance. Another drummer, who was not identified, was shown with the group; Mr. Helm was not pictured.
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