American Son (album)  American Son is a studio album by American country rock musician Levon Helm, who is most famous for his work as drummer for the rock group the Band. It was released in October 1980 on MCA Records and was Helm's third studio album. It has been generally considered Levon Helm's best solo work until the release of "Dirt Farmer" in 2007. Helm played the part of Loretta Lynn's father in 1980 film "Coal Miner's Daughter" and was asked to record a version of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" for the film's soundtrack. The session went well, and producer Fred Carter, Jr., decided to cut more tracks. Using a band of veteran Nashville session players, Carter and Helm recorded 20 tracks over two weeks, half of which ended up on "American Son".