Did you know that Robbie Robertson has a connection to Alabama? The famed guitarist, singer and songwriter wasn’t a regular at concert venues in the state, but he does have a link to Birmingham, via Americana legend Emmylou Harris.

Robertson, who died on Monday at age 80, wrote the song “Evangeline,” which was performed by Harris, a Birmingham native, with The Band in the 1978 concert film “The Last Waltz.” Although Harris didn’t sing the tune at the primary concert that inspired the documentary, she performed “Evangeline” with the band in soundstage sessions after the concert that were included in the film. “Evangeline” also was included in the movie soundtrack.

(You can listen to the song here and watch a movie clip in the YouTube video below.)

In the storytelling song — about a woman, a gambler and a Mississippi riverboat “that pulled her man away” — Harris shares lead vocals and harmonies with Levon Helm and Rick Danko. Robertson, who plays guitar on the song, was a prime mover for The Band, a colleague of Bob Dylan, a successful solo artist and more. The Canadian native wrote some of The Band’s most famous tunes, such as “The Weight”, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “Up on Cripple Creek.”

Robertson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Canadian Music Hall of Fame as a member of The Band. Rolling Stone ranked him 59th on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Robertson talked about “Evangeline” in an interview with Joshua Baer of Musician magazine, according to a blog post on Don’t Forget the Songs 365. According to the post, Robertson said, “I’d written ‘Evangeline’ as part of ‘The Last Waltz Suite.’ We did it in the concert and we did some of the other things from the suite at the concert too. But when we were done, it’s like all of these artists represented an element of popular music in their own right. Emmylou Harris was fresh and kind of represented a new school of the country music thing and also she’s very photogenic. She has a great relationship with the camera.”

“Evangeline” was arranged as a “sort of country two-step,” according to the blog post, and the instrumentation includes mandolin, fiddle, drums and accordion.

Harris included another version of “Evangeline” on a 1981 album, with harmony vocals Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, and made it the title track of the record. (You can listen to that version here.)

Helm performed another version of “Evangeline” with Sheryl Crow that was included on his 2011 live album “Ramble at the Ryman.”