Few producers have as strong a resume as Larry Campbell, who can claim credits with Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Willie Nelson, just to name a few. Then there’s Campbell’s wife Teresa Willams, an accomplished singer in her own right, who has built up a reputation for her work with artists like Emmylou Harris and Mavis Staples. The pair have also found acclaim as part of the Levon Helm Band, the project that defined legendary The Band drummer Levon Helm’s last years. The group was known for its late-night, free-for-all jam sessions–affectionately dubbed Rambles–at Helm’s barn in Woodstock, NY. Despite Helm’s death in 2012, the Ramble tradition continues to this day, both in Woodstock, NY and at Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh’s intimate Terrapin Crossroads venue in San Raphael, CA.

Campbell and Williams have worked behind-the-scenes or as back up musicians for decades, and they’ll keep that up this Thursday, October 15, when they join Jackson Browne on stage at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans. However, things will also be a little bit different this time. After 27 years outside the limelight, the pair will play an opening set of their own material–as a duo–in addition to joining Browne for his headlining performance.

That’s because Campbell and Williams recently put out their debut album, a stripped-down, old school roots record titled, you guessed it, Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams. I had a chat with the husband-and-wife team earlier this week to find out what’s in store this Thursday, how they’re adjusting to the spotlight, why they chose to cover the Grateful Dead and more.

You guys are on the road opening for Jackson Browne, but also supporting your debut, self-titled album. How did you end up hitting the road with Jackson?

Larry Campbell: It was earlier in the spring when Jackson called me up. We had worked together before. I first met him on a couple of his tours years ago and then he came to play a Ramble at Levon’s place. We got along great. He sang with Teresa and it was wonderful. That’s kind of how our relationship started. He called me in the spring and said his guitar player, Val McCallum, needed to take some time off in the fall – he has a young daughter and he wanted to spend some time with her – and asked if I’d be interested in subbing for him. I said, “Yes I love the idea, it’s just that Teresa and I have done this record and I need to be out promoting it.” He called back the next day and said, “You know what? I had a great idea. Why don’t you come play guitar, you and Teresa open the shows with my band backing you up and Teresa will sing a few duets with me.” Teresa and I thought about it for about two seconds and said “Wait a minute, what’s wrong with this?” It’s a really generous offer and we’re thrilled to be doing it.

You two have been making music together for a very long time, but you’re often working behind the scenes or as back ups. What’s it like to be putting out a record of your own together?

LC: Well it’s great. It’s great because we’re doing it together. And speaking for myself, doing this as a front artist was never something I really inspired to. I’ve always wanted to be the guy playing the guitar or the guy in the studio or the guy producing the record. It was always that side of the music scene that really appealed to me. But when Teresa and I would sing together, it was just great. And during  those years with Levon, we had the opportunity to really hone that thing. It was very satisfying.

Teresa Williams: For the first time, Larry and I were actually working together and living together. It went from hardly seeing each other to spending 24/7 together. It was like going from dating to being like ‘Oh, we’re really married now’, which is great because we had many years of this ‘hardly being together’ thing.  So I think we discovered that we kind of like it.

LC: Then I decided to write some songs thinking that we might be able to sing them together. One thing led to another and then we had an album of material, including a couple of covers that we were performing.

TW:  People at our shows were shaming us for not being able to purchase the songs they were hearing. They kept asking us, “Where can we buy that?” So they were kind of shaming us into making an album.

LC: But we got it done, and it’s an interesting turn of events for me. Teresa is used to be in the spotlight much more than I am. So this is a pretty new event at this point of my life, after decades as a musician. I am enjoying it, but what I am really enjoying is that we are doing it together. We’ve been married for 28 years now, and to be doing the thing you love to do the most with the person you love to it with the most, it’s a pretty good place to be.

TW: 27 years Larry. 27 years. Be careful, our anniversary is this week [Laughs].

There are eight originals and three covers on the album. Can you talk a little bit about the writing process and what was behind the cover choices?

LC: Those three covers were songs we have been doing for a while. Well, [Emmylou Harris’] “You’re Running Wild” actually may have been the very first song that Teresa and I ever sang together, even before we get married. We ended up doing that casually at different times, and then with Levon’s band that became a staple song. “Attics of My Life,” how did we start doing that one?

TW: Larry and I have worked with [Grateful Dead bassist] Phil Lesh pretty often through the years and we we were asked to perform at a guitar festival that happen in New York ever winter. The focus was doing one night of [the Grateful Dead album] Workingman’s Dead and the next night doing American Beauty. That’s the first time we ever performed “Attics of My Life.” Eventually we included in the Rambles and added Amy [Helm]. Larry like to say that Levon loved it, and he did love it, because he could take a long break during the set. [Laughs] Phil also performed it with us at Larry’s mother’s memorial and then we eventually did it at Levon’s memorial too. We’ve done it with Phil in his [Phil Lesh & Friends] shows. So it’s been a part of our repertoire.

LW: Yes it’s a beautiful song and I had always wanted to hear what it sounded like stripped down to its essence, which is what we basically do with once voice and one guitar. People really seem to be on for that.

TW: I never get tired of doing it.

LC: These three covers were tunes that we had been performing and were heavy audience requests with the Levon Helm Band. For the original tunes, my goal was to write a few songs to do a record for Teresa and I, but writing is not an easy process for me. I just wanted to write stuff that I felt were coming from an honest place for both of us. and that was based, thematically, in the genres that we are both attracted to, American roost music.

TW: And that, right there, is the glue of our relationship. We both tend to like the same music and that’s how we met, doing that kind of music. All the years of being  apart of whatever ups and downs, we met through the music, we bonded through the music. I just really feel like its our glue.

LC: Yeah, it’s a heavy base for our relationship. When we’re making music, that’s the only time Teresa ever listens to me.

TW: Ha! It’s not quite accurate.

You have this show coming up in New Orleans on Thursday at the Saenger Theater. Is coming to this city a special thing for you?

LC: Oh man, that’s one of the greatest music cities in the world. I mean, we don’t have to tell you that. A lot of the people we had the pleasure to work with came from there. Aaron Neville and all the Neville Brothers. Mac, you know, Dr. John. Levon was also running a club down there for a little while. A good friend of mine from the years I was working with Dylan, George Receli, he’s from Louisiana and he really has that New Orleans vibes when he’s playing. All the musicians I’ve ever met and played with in New Orleans were just special, completely special.

TW: This a little beside the point, but I’m from Tennessee and we happened to be in Tennessee when Katrina was happening–I’m actually trying to move us back to Tennessee–but I’ve never quite realized that it’s a straight shot down to New Orleans from West Tennessee. People kept flooding in, just in time to escape the storm that weekend. I just felt a new kinship, with the proximity to my fellow Southerners down there.

LC: We worked with Allen Toussaint a few times. What a great experience it is. I mean, he is New Orleans.

TW: Oh that’s just beautiful! Every time we’ve worked with him.

What’s up with you guys after this album cycle and tour wrap up?

LC: Let’s see, I’m producing a record for a band called the Staybirds in December. Teresa hopefully gets some time off at home with her folks.

TW: I’m still lucky enough to have my parents alive, and am taking any opportunity to hang out with them. Like I said, I’m just trying to be back in Tennessee.

LC: After the holidays we have some more stuff coming up. Hopefully, before it gets too late into the year, we’ll start another record. My head is working material right now even if my pen is not. I’m anxious to continue this, I’m really enjoying it. We’re getting a good response, so I’ll keep walking down this road until it goes off a cliff.

Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams will perform with Jackson Browne during his sold out show at the Saenger Theater in New Orleans on Thursday, October 15.