I thought I’d share this with you. It’s an excerpt from my blog about our road trip to Woodstock last summer and going to Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble for the second time. We were so blown away the first time we saw the Midnight Ramble, we had to do it again and I’m so happy we did!
Now it’s time for the Levon Helm Midnight Ramble. The Ramble is held at Levon’s home in a studio attached to his house and is known as THE place to hear not only Levon’s band but surprise guests. Tonight, Ray Wylie Hubbard is the guest. He’s one of the Austin, Texas legends. He’s a scruffy, gruff, singer songwriter storyteller that you can listen to all night long. After Ray, Levon’s band of 12 appears nonchalantly on stage. 5 horns including sax, trombone, tuba, and trumpet, Brian Mitchell (Google him) on keyboards, 2 female singers, Theresa Campbell and Levon’s daughter, Amy and Larry Campbell as lead guitar and frontman. Larry is well-known. He’s played with Bob Dylan for many years and others too numerous to count. It’s an intimate setting, acoustically perfect and accommodates only about 250 people.
It’s a dream night if you love music. The set list is mixed with something for everyone and of course songs from The Band. Levon’s voice is not well enough for him to sing but his spirit and drumming leads the band. His smile lights up the room and everyone is so happy to see him!