Love always. Love forever. Love until the end of time.
The Great Cosmic Playlist is testimony to the endurance of an emotion that is easy to conjure but hard to maintain. But for Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, who have been coupled consciously since 1986, love is more than a pop song; they are the bards of the long term committed relationship.
“As soon as I saw her, I knew she was the one,’’ says Larry. That epiphany occurred in a Manhattan rehearsal studio. Teresa, an actress and vocalist not long removed from Peckerwood Point, TN, had been pulled into a singing contest. Larry, the New York City native with a burgeoning reputation for his virtuosity on any instrument with strings, was brought in to play pedal steel guitar. “For me, it was love at first note,’’ she says. Together they went on to capture a greater prize.
From the beginning, they shared a musical sensibility; Larry courted her with a Louvin Brothers mix tape. The more they played together, the deeper it grew.
All This Time is the couple’s fourth album since taking that leap, following Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams (2015), Contraband Love (2017), and Live at Levon’s (2023). All This Time, says Larry, “feels more intuitive to me than the earlier records, less experimental, evidence that we’ve grown more aware of who we are and what we have to offer.” What they offer, evidently, is an intensely romantic album. Songs like Desert Island Dreams, Ride With Me, The Way You Make Me Feel, and I Love You fairly burst with the joy of love, while others recognize love’s humbling power. “All I want, all I need, is right in front of me,’’ testifies one song. “I still tremble at your name,” says another.
With opener Roger Street Friedman
Roger Street Friedman is still a believer in the idea that music can change hearts and minds. Over the course of four critically acclaimed albums (features and raves in American Songwriter, Relix, and Americana Highways), the modern Americana singer-songwriter has become a prominent voice in addressing issues, both societal and personal, in ways that recall the leading music lights of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Self-produced after mentoring with Larry Campbell, the new album “Long Shadows” will release in January 2025.
