Amy Helm Countersues to Void Control of Levon’s Barn

Amy Helm filed a 34-page complaint on October 16, 2026 asking a New York court to void Brian Parillo’s control of Levon Helm Studios. She says he built a 60% vote from a 10% stake by taking assignments from Levon Helm’s widow, Sandra Helm, and from Barbara O’Brien.

The filing landed two months after the company sued her in federal court for trademark infringement and at least $2 million in damages. Sandra Helm is not named as a defendant. Her signature is still the hinge.

A 34-Page Complaint Calls the Takeover Void

Amy Helm, a singer-songwriter and Levon’s daughter, was removed as president of Levon Helm Studios on May 26, 2026. Parillo, a 10% shareholder who says he helped stage the first Midnight Ramble in 2004, was installed as president and later as chief executive. O’Brien, Levon’s former manager, also holds 10%.

The new state complaint says those moves were a string of invalid corporate acts. It claims Parillo first got Sandra Helm and another shareholder, in June 2025, to sign a written consent stripping Amy as a director. Then, in late May and early June 2026, it says he got Sandra to step down as director and assign him her voting rights, and declared himself director, president, secretary, and treasurer.

“Every one of these corporate acts is void,” the complaint says. Amy Helm “never signed any of the consents,” and no shareholder meeting was noticed or held. She asks the court to put her back in as director and president and to rule that Parillo had no authority to bring the August federal case.

WHAT THE OCTOBER COMPLAINT ASKS THE COURT TO DO

• Void the consents: Treat the 2025 and 2026 written consents as if they never took effect.
• Restore her titles: Recognize Amy Helm as director and president of Levon Helm Studios.
• Strip his authority: Find that Parillo could not lawfully file the August federal suit in the company’s name.
• Name the method: Hold that he used undue influence over a person who, the complaint says, could not grasp the papers she signed.

The complaint also says that after he took over, Parillo “demanded” that Amy stay off the property, stop contacting Sandra, and tell staff he controlled the company, or a June 6 Helm Family Midnight Ramble would die. When she did not answer, the suit says, he canceled the night and told the public it was a family emergency on her side. A lawyer for Parillo then wrote Jay Collins, Amy’s ex-husband, on WhatsApp after Collins posted that “new owners” had killed the show: “You just sealed Amy’s fate.” A June 5 email to Amy and her counsel included the lines “we hold Amy’s career in our hands” and “We can make Amy radioactive.”

Benjamin Waisbren, one of Amy’s lawyers, called the earlier campaign against her a public smear and said the new complaint answers it.

Sandra Helm’s Signature Moved 40 Percent of the Vote

Amy Helm and Sandra Helm each still own 40% of Levon Helm Studios, Inc. Parillo and O’Brien own 10% each. Parillo and Sandra have said the May assignments moved votes, not stock. On paper, that let a 10% holder claim 60% of the vote: his own 10, Sandra’s 40, and O’Brien’s 10.

WHO HOLDS LEVON HELM STUDIOS INC.

That arithmetic only works if Sandra’s assignment stands. Amy’s complaint says it does not, because the papers were produced through undue influence over “a vulnerable person who lacked the ability to understand the nature and consequences.”

Sandra Helm, 76, has told two different stories about that week, and both are on the record. In a June 4, 2026 affirmation in Ulster County Surrogate’s Court, Amy wrote that after Woodstock police left the Barn on May 28, Sandra cried and asked for help undoing what she had done. Amy quoted her stepmother as saying, “I thought, ‘they’ve conned me.’ I’m so gullible, they’re taking advantage of me. How do I undo this? I don’t know why I keep doing this.”

The same affirmation quotes Sandra on a buyout plan Parillo denies ever floating:

Brian asked me to give him my 40% of Levon Helm Studios. He said he had a plan to force you to buy the company back from him for $5 million dollars, and I’d be set for life. I asked him how you’d be able to afford that, and he said that your stepfather would pay the money.

Sandra Helm, as quoted in Amy Helm’s June 4, 2026 affirmation

Amy’s stepfather is Donald Fagen of Steely Dan. Parillo has denied making that proposal. The October complaint adds that Sandra later emailed her own lawyer asking to pull back the voting transfer.

Two days after the ouster, Woodstock police were called to the Barn. No charges were filed. Parillo told officers Amy “began shoving him.” Amy told them he came at her, she put her hands up, and she pushed him away. A recording caught her shouting at him to get away. The police report also says “Amy Helm and Sandra Helm reported that Parillo is trying to take over the company and obtain ownership.”

In July, speaking as the fight went public, Sandra rejected the puppet-master story. She said she wanted fewer thin calendars and more rock and roll in the room, and that backing Parillo “was a way to show Amy that I was serious about restructuring and a new administration, and this is who it’s going to be.” She said she signed the voting paper on a different day than the police call, and that she had been disoriented on May 28 because staff were packing up, not because anyone had taken over her mind.

I didn’t like that they wanted to portray Brian like some kind of a puppet master or Svengali that came in and overtook my mind. It’s been blown out of proportion. I just wanted to restructure Levon Helm Studios and bring it back to the glory days. And it’s as simple as that.

Sandra Helm, July 2026 interview

A Guardian ad Litem Covers the Estate Case Only

The October complaint leans on a July 10, 2026 order from Ulster County Surrogate’s Court. The court appointed lawyer Jason Kovacs as guardian ad litem for Sandra in Levon’s estate case, describing her as “a person under disability” and telling him to report on whether she could take part.

That order is narrower than Amy’s language about elder abuse. Kovacs said, “She has not been declared incapacitated by a court of law. My role is strictly to protect her interests in this specific estate proceeding.” Patricia Annino, an estate lawyer at Rimon, put the same limit in plainer terms: a guardian ad litem is not a guardian, and the order “hasn’t determined anything” about the exploitation claim.

The estate fight started a year before the Barn blowup. In May 2025 Amy asked the surrogate to remove Sandra as administrator, alleging she had moved at least $50,000 in estate assets into a personal account through more than 100 small checks. In June 2025, Surrogate’s Court Judge Sara W. McGinty suspended Sandra as administrator. Amy’s June 4, 2026 filing then accused Parillo of “financial exploitation and elder abuse.” He has called those charges categorically false.

The Land and the Operating Company Are Separate

Control of the concert company is not the same as title to the ground. Levon Helm Studios, Inc. books the shows and holds the Midnight Ramble mark. The house, the room, and about 18 acres sit in Levon’s Barn LLC, which Amy’s June filing says she and Sandra own 50% each. Parillo’s 60% vote, even if a court blesses it, does not by itself hand him the dirt.

The barn itself was built in 1975 from local hemlock, pine, and bluestone on that Woodstock tract. Levon designed the room. It burned in 1991 and was rebuilt as a studio, a stage, and a home. Artists who have played it include Mavis Staples, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Phil Lesh, Norah Jones, and Amy Helm.

Levon died on April 19, 2012, without a will. His 80% block in the operating company was split evenly, which is how Amy and Sandra each landed at 40% beside the two 10% founders’ stakes. Parillo, now 48, has said Levon invited him and his band to Woodstock in 2000, that they co-created the first Midnight Ramble on January 24, 2004, and that he took 10% and the vice presidency when the company was formed on October 22, 2004. He says he has never been paid on those shares, and that he is taking no salary as president.

He has also said that for 14 years after Levon’s death, Amy and her advisers kept Sandra, O’Brien, and him away from the books. “LHS is not a birthright. It is Levon Helm’s legacy,” he wrote in July.

What New York Requires for Action Without a Meeting

Amy’s lawyers are not inventing a technicality. The complaint says the company’s certificate of incorporation does not let a majority act by written consent. Under that reading, every shareholder has to sign, or the board has to meet.

New York’s default rule matches that claim. Business Corporation Law § 615(a) allows a vote to be taken without a meeting on written consent of all outstanding shares entitled to vote, unless the certificate itself permits a lesser number. If the certificate is silent, a 60% bloc cannot paper over a missing 40% signature. Prompt notice to non-consenting holders is required only when the certificate already allows less-than-unanimous consent.

That is why the June 2025 director consent and the 2026 voting assignments are being attacked as one chain. If the certificate really demands every signature, Amy’s missing name is enough to unwind the stack, including Parillo’s authority to sue her in the company’s name. If a court finds the certificate does allow majority consents, or that a meeting was properly held, the voidness claim falls and the federal case proceeds under his control.

O’Brien has not commented. Her 10% is the quieter block in the 60% figure. Without it, Sandra’s 40% plus Parillo’s 10% is only half, and half does not throw out a president.

The Federal Case Still Seeks $2 Million

Levon Helm Studios, Inc. filed a federal trademark complaint filed August 10, 2026, in the Northern District of New York, case 1:26-cv-01540, before Judge Mae A. D’Agostino. The Lanham Act count is tied to USPTO registration 3985535, the Midnight Ramble certificate attached as an exhibit. Defendants include Amy Helm, The Helm Family Midnight Ramble LLC, and several associates and lawyers.

The company says a review of the books from Amy’s years as president, which it dates from 2017 to 2026, found self-dealing. It claims she charged about $400,000 to the studio for touring costs, personal tax payments, health and life insurance, a driver, a personal lawyer, and a tour-van lease. Of that, it says $167,000 was so far from company business that her accountant booked it as “Due from Amy.” It also claims she took about $200,000 from the Levon Helm estate, including from an LLC that pays royalties on his last records, and that those draws blocked payments to people who played on the albums.

The federal complaint further says she built her own mark, Helm Family Midnight Ramble, and ran the gate through her own company. Amy’s October filing flips that accusation. It says Parillo used his “purported control” to grab Levon’s name, image, and likeness without estate permission, and that he is running accounts such as “levonhelmofficial” and “thelevonhelm.” The estate sent a cease-and-desist demanding those accounts come down.

MONEY CLAIMS IN THE AUGUST FEDERAL SUIT

• Damages sought: At least $2 million, plus a trademark injunction around Midnight Ramble.
• Personal charges: About $400,000 billed to the studio, $167,000 of it booked “Due from Amy.”
• Estate draws: About $200,000 alleged from the Levon Helm estate and a royalties LLC, a separate pile from the $50,000 Amy attributes to Sandra in the 2025 estate petition.
• Amy’s answer: “I unilaterally deny any and all of these baseless, spurious allegations.”

Company lawyers said they will answer the state complaint in the proper court. They pointed back to the federal exhibits and said those papers speak for themselves.

The Midnight Ramble Calendar Went Dark

The general manager, operations manager, and studio manager resigned in the May turnover. Sandra said six people left, Amy among them, and that she did not fire anyone and did not want anyone to quit. Parillo hired a new manager, Jonathan Skurnick, and said he wanted more nights on the books. Asked in July whether the Rambles would continue, he said that “kind of remains to be seen.”

Booked Helm Family nights did not remain. A June 6 show was pulled three days out. Tixr, the ticketer, emailed on July 10 that August 1 and 2, billed as a Sun Records Ramble Weekend with Robert Randolph, Ruthie Foster, and Duane Betts among the guests, were postponed. Other artists dropped dates in solidarity with Amy. Ticketholders then got notes saying almost all of the money paid for upcoming shows “was no longer available” and blaming prior management for spending what should have been held back. Parillo said refunds were going out in the order shows were canceled, “as funds become available.”

By late September the room had hosted a pair of nights by guitarist Laith Al-Saadi. As of October 19, the public calendar was down to one date, in April. Sandra still lives on the property. The Helm Family Midnight Ramble, the series Amy has billed as a tribute to the songbook her father rebuilt in that room, is the product both lawsuits are trying to own.

Musicians who work that circuit have long treated Amy and the Barn as one operation, which is why so many dates disappeared when she was locked out. In the same news cycle as her October filing, Sandra and Parillo sat for a glossy talk about preserving Levon’s sound. The complaint calls that control an illegal takeover. Both pitches cannot be true in the same week, and a court now has to pick.

FROM THE ESTATE FILE TO THE STATE COMPLAINT

1. May 2025: Amy Helm petitions Ulster County Surrogate’s Court to remove Sandra Helm as administrator of Levon’s estate, citing at least $50,000 moved into a personal account.
2. June 2025: Judge Sara W. McGinty suspends Sandra as administrator. Amy’s later complaint says Parillo also obtained a shareholder consent that month to remove Amy as a director.
3. May 26, 2026: Shareholders remove Amy as president. Parillo takes the office and claims 60% of the vote.
4. May 28, 2026: Woodstock police respond to a confrontation at the Barn. No charges are filed.
5. June 4, 2026: Amy files in Surrogate’s Court accusing Parillo of financial exploitation and elder abuse and asking for a guardian for Sandra.
6. July 10, 2026: The court appoints Jason Kovacs as guardian ad litem for Sandra in the estate case only.
7. August 10, 2026: Levon Helm Studios sues Amy and others in federal court on the Midnight Ramble mark and the $2 million damage claim.
8. October 16, 2026: Amy files the 34-page state complaint seeking to unwind Parillo’s titles and his authority to have sued her.

Amy Helm, 55, has released four solo albums and wrote in July that neither she nor the longtime core staff were part of any decision by the new management. “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,” she said then. In an earlier statement she called the ouster a shakedown and asked who was bankrolling Parillo.

Parillo Says He Will Keep the Room Open

Parillo answered the October complaint in one block of quotes to reporters on October 19. He said he would respond in court, that Amy’s picture of Sandra was “callous and untrue,” and that people who know Sandra would not recognize it.

Levon built the barn to bring people together, and that’s still what it’s for. Keeping music in that room, for the musicians who play there and the neighbors who come to hear them, is the best way I know to honor him. I’m going to keep doing that work, and I hope everyone who loves this place, including Levon’s family, will be part of its future.

Brian Parillo, statement, October 19, 2026

Judge D’Agostino still has the federal mark case. The state complaint is the October 16 filing. The Barn is still on its Woodstock acreage, with one public date posted for April, while Sandra Helm’s 40% vote remains the share both sides need and the share a surrogate’s court has already said she cannot handle alone in the estate next door.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting on active civil cases and is for information only. It is not legal advice and does not tell any shareholder, heir, or ticketholder how to plead, settle, vote shares, or pursue a refund. Anyone with a stake in Levon Helm Studios, Levon’s Barn LLC, the estate, or the Midnight Ramble mark should consult a licensed New York attorney who can read the actual filings. Figures, titles, and case status come from the complaints, docket entries, and public statements given on the dates those documents were filed or issued, and a court can change all of them.