Levon Helm’s Daughter Amy Removed from Managing His Woodstock ‘Barn’ Studio, in Dispute

Photo of a beaming Levon Helm via his Facebook page.

Levon Helm Studios, the recording studio and live music venue founded by the late Levon Helm, drummer and vocalist with The Band, is “in turmoil,” according to a July 13, 2026, article written by John W. Barry and Noah Eckstein and published in The Overlook. Otherwise known as “The Barn,” the Woodstock, N.Y., venue, which had been under the control of the musician’s daughter, Amy Helm, underwent “a shift in voting control [that] removed…Amy Helm from management and put longtime shareholder Brian Parillo in charge.”

The Barn, best known for its regular series of “Midnight Ramble” concerts, has featured such artists as John Prine, Phil Lesh, Norah Jones, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Marc Cohn, and Mavis Staples in the past, according to the report. Recently, however, the reporters stated, “Three scheduled Helm Family Midnight Ramble shows were postponed, and a confrontation between Amy Helm and Parillo drew Woodstock police to The Barn.”

Related: John Barry, co-author of the Overlook article, previous authored a book on Levon Helm

Parillo, “who became involved with the studio in the early 2000s, said shareholders removed Amy Helm from management on May 26 and later appointed him chief executive officer.” Parillo “now controls 60% of the company’s voting power after Sandra ‘Sandy’ Helm, the widow of Levon Helm, and shareholder Barbara O’Brien assigned him their voting rights.”

Photo © Greg Brodsky

The dispute became so heated that, the authors contend, “Woodstock police were called to The Barn on May 28 after a confrontation between Amy Helm and Parillo. No charges were filed, and the two have offered contradictory accounts of what happened.”

Sandra Helm, the article states, “wanted new leadership at a venue that she believed was staging too few performances and booking acts that didn’t fit The Barn’s rock ’n’ roll character. She also wanted to make clear to Amy, her stepdaughter, that she was serious about changing leadership.”

Amy Helm, in return, “called the situation ‘unconscionable’ and said the changes were disrespectful to her father’s memory…Neither I, nor our long-time core staff, are currently part of Levon Helm Studios and have nothing to do with any decisions made or actions taken by the new ‘management,’” she said.

In an extensive post on July 12 on her Facebook page, Amy Helm wrote, “In time, I will be able to speak to the disturbing circumstances behind the current situation at my father’s home and recording studio.

“What’s paramount to us right now is making sure that The Barn — both the legacy and the community of which we’re family — is safe and protected.

It’s not only been my responsibility, but my privilege to carry on my Dad’s vision. Along with an endless family of musicians and friends who were close to him, we have honored his memory and music, and will continue to do so.”

The Barn was built in 1975 and the Midnight Rambles began at the site in 2004. Helm died in 2012.

For further details regarding the legal situation concerning The Barn, see the original article, linked above.

Watch Levon perform at a Midnight Ramble at his 65th birthday celebration in 2005

Author John Barry’s book on Levon is available here.