Songfacts®:

• "Evangeline" was written by The Band's main songwriter, Robbie Robertson, who was from Canada but had a knack for Americana, which he shows here. The song tells the tale of a woman who is hung up on a man who is more interested in gambling on riverboats in the Mississippi than in committing to her. It has an old-timey feel that's typical of many songs by The Band, evoking the early 1900s when the song takes place. The main instrumentation is Garth Hudson's accordion, Rick Danko's fiddle and Levon Helm's mandolin.
• Emmylou Harris sings on "Evangeline" along with Rick Danko and Levon Helm of The Band. They recorded the song in 1976 but it wasn't released until two years later, when it appeared in the classic concert film The Last Waltz and on the soundtrack. Most of the film, directed by Martin Scorsese, is live concert footage, but "Evangeline" plays in a hazy flashback scene that was shot in a studio.
  
  "I was a huge fan of The Band from their first record. So that was amazing, to find myself involved in that project," Emmylou Harris told Uncut magazine. "I had been invited to do the live concert, but I was in the middle of touring when I got the call from Robbie (Robertson), so we were able to do it on a sound stage. I think it was over three days; we had to do take after take. It made me realize I was glad that I decided not to become an actress. For me, it has to be in the moment. You do the show, and once the show's over, that's it. You don't get a do-over."
• The song is based on a 1947 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called "Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie." The poem has a lot more details and doen't end well: Evangeline ends up searching high and low her the guy, and when she finds him, he's dying.
• Evangeline was never a common name but it sings really well; it's also in the titles of songs by Los Lobos, Matthew Sweet and Cocteau Twins.
  
  The name had a resurgence around 2010 that lasted another decade or so.
• Emmylou Harris released her own version of "Evangeline" as the title track to her 1981 solo album; some of the song she recorded while pregnant with her daughter Meghann. Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt sang harmony vocals on her version. This was one of the first times the three sang together; they had amazing chemistry and became determined to release an album together, which they finally did in 1987 with the Grammy-winning Trio.