In The Band's "The Weight," Levon Helm sings, "Well, Luke, my friend, what about young Anna Lee? He said, 'Do me a favor, son, won't you stay and keep Anna Lee company?'"
Now, Anna Lee Amsden is giving back by trying to raise $150,000 to restore Levon’s childhood home in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas (now located in nearby Marvell) and to erect a bust of her late friend.
She says, "I don’t think of him as a big movie star or a musical icon. I think of him as somebody that I love dearly who was a part of my family. The fact that he left Phillips County and made out as well as he did -- people would come to his rambles and be just in awe of playing with him -- he needs to be immortalized."
Earlier this year, Arkansas legislators designated a portion of U.S. 49 as the Levon Helm Memorial Highway.
Levon died in 2012 from throat cancer. He was 71.