After a year that brought them from Bourbon Street sweatshops to the country's biggest arenas, the women of Evangeline take stock on the eve of their second album for Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Records.

Backstage in the tiny stage-right dressing room at Jimmy’s Uptown Music Club, the members of Evangeline seem right at home in an atmosphere of relaxed camaraderie between professional musicians.

On this cool Monday night in December, Evangeline is participating in a hastily-or...