Launching from Levon Helm’s barn in Woodstock, N.Y., Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams took pre-pandemic concertgoers on an aural tour of the United States – one befitting the First Couple of Americana. 

With the release of Live at Levon’s!, everyone else can now take that trip, too. Recorded at the site where Campbell & Williams performed so many Midnight Rambles, the LP is both a nod to their late friend and collaborator and a metaphorical cutting of ties as the duo get further into their own, late-starting career. 

As per typical, Campbell sings and plays everything with strings (including electric, acoustic and pedal-steel guitars and fiddle) while Williams sings and plays occasional acoustic guitar. 

The first port of call is New Orleans via Piedmont, as Williams sings “Let Us Get Together” accompanied by Campbell’s deft picking and Jesse Murphy’s tuba-as-bass. It’s then on to the East Coast via a balladic take on Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Darlin’ be Home Soon” and a twangy, rockabilly arrangement of Duke Ellington’s instrumental “Caravan.”

There’s a stop in on a back porch in Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass State on “Old Dangerfield.” And Campbell takes the wheel for his Phil Lesh & Friends arrangement of “Big River,” before doubling back to Detroit, for the soul-stirring “When I Stop Loving You.” 

Campbell wrote it with William Bell and sings it to and with his muse. 

“Baby the sun won’t rise/the moon won’t appear/the stars will fall/when I stop loving you/somebody will close my eyes/and I’m gonna hear/the angels call/when I stop loving you/and my heart will beat no more.”

It’s a masterful composition. And a masterful performance from an album that’s full of them.

Take the trip. Live at Levon’s! is the best audio tour listeners are bound to experience anytime soon.