Levon Helm, in a bittersweet appearance

The latter days of ex-Band drummer/vocalist Levon Helm's storied career, including two solo Grammys, seem like one long last waltz, a victory lap for a man who stared down death, in the form of throat cancer, and lived to tell.

Still, the cure exacted a terrible price: the radiation treatments that eventually rid his throat of malignancy damaged his vocal cords, reducing his once-strong, clear tenor to a weak, scratchy rasp.

So, it was no real surprise that his band - a crack 12-piece that includes a full complement of horns and his daughter Amy on vocals - did most of the singing Thursday night at the Keswick Theatre. When, after four or five songs, including a stunning "Long Black Veil," Helm finally took a turn at lead vocal on Ray Charles' "I Want to Know," the sold-out, standing-room-only crowd gave the 70-year-old former drummer of the Band a warm ovation.

While his voice may be a ragged shadow of its former glory, his drumming remains above reproach. Perched stage left behind a sparkly, candy-apple-red Gretsch kit, dressed in a crisp white dress shirt and a black glove on his left hand, Helm was "in the pocket" incarnate, cranking out folksy shuffles and funky struts with the ease of a man a third his age. He also strummed a mean mandolin during "Deep Ellum Blues."

The freewheeling two-hour set was a rich pageant of rootsy Americana, including Jerry Garcia's "Tennessee Jed," Leadbelly's "The Bourgeois Blues," and Bob Dylan's "Blind Willie McTell." Musically speaking, the high point of the night was Clark Gayton's trombone overture to "All on Mardi Gras Day," a slow-burn medley of humid sighs and moody blues that sounded like a last-call love letter to the music of the Crescent City. Helm closed out this night with a pair of heart-tugging showstoppers from his days in the Band - "The Weight" and Dylan's "I Shall Be Released."