The statistics are staggering. Forty-five years from now it’s estimated that Louisiana will have lost more than 630,000 additional acres of coastal marshes, swamps and islands due to the continuing coastal erosion problem. In an effort to create awareness that it’s a global concern, not just a domestic one, bluesman Tab Benoit founded the Voice of the Wetlands nonprofit in 2003. In January 2005, Benoit assembled a stellar cast of Louisiana’s finest, Dr. John, Anders Osborne, Cyril Neville, George Porter, Jr., Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Vidacovich and Waylon Thibodeaux, to record these tracks not only as a fundraiser but more importantly as an awareness plea. When Katrina struck, VOW immediately became a relief agency with these ego-less, jam-intensive tracks bearing added significance than they did when they were originally recorded. Several songs, like the funk-fiery “Bayou Breeze” with its “Don’t Let the Water Wash Us Away” mantra as well as the Dr. John-sung “Clean Water,” are practically ecological anthems. On “Ain’t Gonna Lose No More,” Dr. John’s incendiary reference to the Iraq debacle versus addressing our needs is right on the money but should have been leveraged more. Other songs celebrate the soul of Louisiana life like the breezy “Louisiana Sunshine,” the zydeco-seasoned “We Make A Good Gumbo” and Doug Kershaw’s career-defining “Louisiana Man” that’s replete with precious memories of growing up in the bayous. Numbers are infinite, mathematicians say, but if there’s strength in numbers, then the shrinking Wetlands problem is ultimately a finite one.