Levon Helm & Sheryl Crow perform "Evangeline," Ryman Auditorium, September 17, 2008"Evangeline" originally belonged to Emmylou Harris on The Band, she cut it with the group in November 1976, and it later showed up in The Last Waltz. Here, Sheryl Crow stepped into that same role, taking the female lead alongside Helm at the Ryman.The Ryman show, Helm bringing his weekly "Midnight Ramble" out of his Woodstock barn and onto a real stage, was stacked with guests: Buddy Miller, John Hiatt, Sam Bush, George Receli, and Billy Bob Thornton, who introduced the band that night before they opened with "Ophelia." Crow also joined on the Carter Family's "No Depression in Heaven" during the same set. The full show came out on DVD in 2009 and later as the 2011 live album Ramble at the Ryman, produced by Larry Campbell.It came at a genuine high point for Helm, just months after his Dirt Farmer album won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album, and not far removed from his fight to reclaim his voice after throat cancer treatment years earlier.
