Levon Helm’s daughter Amy has filed a new lawsuit claiming she was improperly ousted from Levon Helm Studios earlier this year in what she describes as an “illegal takeover” of the Woodstock venue.
The lawsuit centers around the alleged actions of Brian Parillo, a local musician and friend of Levon Helm’s, who was given a 10 percent shareholder stake in Levon Helm Studios (also known as the Barn), when it was incorporated in the mid-2000s. Parillo was put in charge of the Barn earlier this year with the backing of both Helm’s widow (and Amy’s stepmother), Sandra “Sandy” Helm, and Levon’s former manager, Barbara O’Brien (another minority shareholder).
According to the new lawsuit, Parillo’s “illegal takeover of LHS was achieved through a series of invalid corporate acts.” First, in June 2025, the suit claims that Parillo persuaded Sandy and “another shareholder” to join him in signing a shareholder consent to remove Amy as director of LHS. Then, in late May and early June, the suit claims Parillo got Sandy to step down as director of LHS and assign Parillo her voting rights. (Sandy is not named as a defendant.)
“Every one of these corporate acts is void,” the lawsuit claims. It states that LHS’ Certificate of Incorporation “does not permit shareholders to act by written consent of fewer than all shareholders,” and Amy “never signed any of the consents.” A shareholder meeting was never “noticed or held,” the suit adds.
The lawsuit further alleges that these moves should be considered void “because Parillo produced them through undue influence over a vulnerable person who lacked the ability to understand the nature and consequences.” Specifically, the lawsuit claims Parillo “coerced” Sandy into signing the 2025 shareholder consent agreement after Amy alleged, in a separate matter, that Sandy had “misappropriated … hundreds of thousands of dollars” in Levon Helm estate assets.
With the new lawsuit, Amy said she is seeking to “reassert control of LHS,” asking for an order that would remove Parillo and recognize her as director and president. She also wants the court to declare Parillo’s actions void, and state he had no authority to bring a federal lawsuit that was filed against Amy in August.
The new lawsuit marks a significant escalation in the dispute over the Barn, which burst into public view earlier this year. In previous court filings related to the Helm estate matter, Amy claimed that Sandy was susceptible to manipulation, and accused Parillo of “financial exploitation and elder abuse.” She also suggested that, during a confrontation at the Barn after the shareholder meeting, Sandy expressed regret over backing Parillo and said she’d been “conned.”
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Sandy has denied Amy’s claims and has continued to voice support for Parillo. Parillo has also denied this, accusing Amy of denying him and other LHS shareholders access to corporate records.
Amy’s new suit claims that, since taking over LHS, Parillo has “tightened his grip over Sandy,” “deprived LHS of much-needed income,” and “weaponized the Company against Amy.” For instance, it offers some new details about what preceded the cancellation of a planned Helm Family Midnight Ramble concert at the Barn on June 6. (The Helm Family Midnight Ramble is an ongoing concert series, led by Amy, and a continuation of the Midnight Ramble shows Levon performed at the Barn during the 2000s and early 2010s.)
To play the concert, Parillo allegedly “demanded” that Amy “not contact Sandy, not come onto the premises, and email all LHS employees instructing them that Parillo controlled LHS, among other things.” When Amy did not respond to these demands, Parillo allegedly canceled the show and “lied to the public by claiming the cancellation was due to a family emergency on Amy’s part.” The lawsuit then cited an email Parillo’s lawyer sent allegedly “threatening a lawsuit against her if she told anyone the true reason for the cancellation.”
The suit cites other messages from Parillo’s lawyer, including one he allegedly sent Jay Collins, Amy’s ex-husband, after Collins posted on social media that the June 6 show had been “canceled by the new owners of the company.” Parillo’s lawyer allegedly messaged Collins on WhatsApp: “You just sealed Amy’s fate.” A second email sent from Parillo’s lawyer, sent to Amy and her counsel, on June 5 included lines like “we hold Amy’s career in our hands” and “[w]e can make Amy radioactive.”
Responding to Amy’s lawsuit, Parillo said in a statement shared with Rolling Stone, “I disagree with Amy’s complaint, and I’ll respond to it in court. I don’t agree with how Sandy is being portrayed, and anyone who knows her knows that Amy’s account of Sandy is callous and untrue. 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.”
Additionally, a spokesperson for Levon Helms Studios’ lawyers said: “We have been made aware of a complaint filed in New York state court by Amy Helm against Levon Helm Studios, Inc. The company is currently pursuing Ms. Helm and her co-defendants in federal court for trademark infringement and myriad breaches of fiduciary duty. The complaint we filed in federal court on behalf of the company and the detailed evidence attached as exhibits thereto speak for themselves. We are reviewing the state filing, and the company will respond in the appropriate forum at the appropriate time.”
In August, the Barn’s new management team sued Amy, accusing her of financial mismanagement during her tenure as president between 2017 and 2026. The suit claimed that a recent review of LHS’ financial records “uncovered millions of dollars of self-dealing transactions apparently authorized by Amy, or for her benefit.”
According to the suit, Amy charged $400,000 to LHS to cover everything from touring expenses to “personal tax repayments, her health and life insurance, her driver, her personal lawyer’s fees,” and more. Of this $400,000, the suit claims that $167,000 was “apparently so unrelated to the company” that Helm’s accountant (also named as a defendant) couldn’t “justify them as legitimate expenses” and categorized them as “Due from Amy.”
At the time, Amy released a statement saying, “I unilaterally deny any and all of these baseless, spurious allegations.”
The August suit also includes a claim that Helm’s use of “Helm Family Midnight Ramble” was allegedly a violation of a “Midnight Ramble” mark obtained in 2011. Interestingly, Amy’s new suit includes its own claims that Parillo has used his “purported control of LHS to appropriate Levon’s name, image, and likeness without authorization from the Estate.” It alleges that Parillo recently “created and is currently managing” a series of social media accounts with names like “levonhelmofficial” and “thelevonhelm.” The estate sent Parillo a cease-and-desist letter demanding the accounts be taken down.
After Amy’s ouster from the barn, many artists canceled shows at the venue, citing solidarity with Helm’s daughter. Since then, the Barn only hosted a pair of concerts from guitarist and singer Laith Al-Saadi, in late September.
This story was updated with a statements from Parillo and a rep for Levon Helms Studios’ lawyers.
From Rolling Stone US
