Tickets go on sale Friday for a rare opportunity to see in concert one of the key figures in one of America's seminal pop band: Levon Helm at the Michigan Theater.

The Levon Helm Band plays the Michigan at 7:30 p.m. March 19. Tickets, at $45 & $65, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via Ticketmaster.com and all Ticketmaster outlets. Limited Gold Circle seats also available.

Co-presented by the Michigan Theater and The Ark, the concert will bring Helm to Ann Arbor for the first time in 20 years, according to the concert announcement.

Helm played drums and sang for The Band, one of the great American ensembles of the rock era. Rolling Stone put him at No. 91 on its list of the greatest singers of all time. Helm won a Grammy Award for best traditional folk album in 2008 for his comeback "Dirt Farmer," while the 2010 follow-up, "Electric Dirt," won the Grammy as best Americana album.

Chicago folk-rocker Joe Pug will open the show.

For more information, see www.michtheater.org/events.

Bob Needham is director of entertainment content for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at bobneedham@annarbor.com or 734-623-2541, and follow him on Twitter @bobneedham.