keeping anna lee company

From the classic The Band song, comes a little story about the namesake of the anna lee in the song- a life long friend of Levon Helm's from Arkansas- anna lee (williams) amsden, has made a cook book of her favorite recipes; she fed the band at different times in their tours, and she has been cooking at the Midnight Rambles here lately. For a long time Levon wouldn't sing The Weight, due to publishing disputes with Robbie Robertson, but he has been singing it of late- it brings a tear to Amsden's eyes...... There is a good article about this on the last page of the recent No Depression magazine (March-april edition, page 80) I'll see if I can link it at some point. She devotes the majority of the pages of the recipe book to "gut busting delicacies" some from Levon's mother Nell- such as the Doodle Cake (crushed pineapple spread over pet milk and vanilla) Helm's `1993 autobiography, This wheel's on fire- talks about some of the childhood memories from ARKANSAS days, with the Cavette sisters and Anna Lee Williams.