LARRY CAMPBELL AND TERESA WILLIAMS

LARRY CAMPBELL AND TERESA WILLIAMS

By Eric Russ

Two mainstays of Levon Helm’s storied Midnight Rambles in Woodstock, New York, husband and wife Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams’ debut album offers a taste of the music that has made those legendary events so special. Campbell, a multi-instrumentalist who was a linchpin in Bob Dylan’s “Never Ending Tour” band for seven years, has played with or produced just about everyone worth their salt in country, folk, blues, and rock music. But perhaps nowhere has Campbell been more at home than in the milieu of the Midnight Ramble where for many years he and Williams have delighted crowds with stunning harmonies and impeccable song selections.

Here on their self-titled debut, Campbell and Williams are at their quintessential best, featuring eight originals and three choice covers. Making appearances on the album are Amy Helm, Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne, Justin Guip, Byron Isaacs, and even Levon Helm himself on the Louvin Brothers classic “You’re Running Wild,” recorded before he passed in 2012. The other borrowed tunes, Rev. Gary Davis’s “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning” and the Grateful Dead’s “Attics of My Life,” point to the breadth of inspiration at the duo’s disposal. Though Campbell’s fingerprints are on countless records as a producer and sideman, it is a rare musical event when he offers up an album of original tunes. The eleven tracks that comprise this recording are simply a drop in the bucket of what could be to come.