Although I was handed a copy of this CD to review in late January of this year, I didn’t realize until I did a bit of Internet research and found a review of said disc by my female protégé, composed for another publication, that Total Death Benefit was released in May of 2004. Nevertheless, it’s a great album and right-up-the-alley of folks who enjoy rootsy music, alcohol and drugs. It sounds sorta like the Band (the Music From Big Pink Band) if that heralded group consisted of young non-Canadian guys without beards living in the Ninth Ward instead of Woodstock.

Lead vocalist/songwriter Luke Allen conjures realistic, tawdry images of typical Bywaterites wearing long sleeved shirts to hide their track marks, a blind man reading Tarot cards and “fools who build their homes below the sea.” The song “Forget-Me-Not” mentions “a vacation on the third floor of Charity Hospital,” which is where psychiatric patients (including the late James Booker) seek treatment. On the epic “Nativity,” guitarist Bailey Smith (also a member of Morning 40 Federation) explodes into the “White Light/White Heat” realm of the Velvet Underground. In addition to Allen’s perceptive songwriting and contributions by bassist Michael Lenore, drummer Andy Harris, keyboardist Trevor Brooks and producer/banjoist Mike West, mention should be made of the CD’s packaging, which far exceeds that of the usual independent releases. It was designed by Hans Haveman and Shawn Hall, utilizing photographs by Allen, Hall and Shannon Brinkman, the Ninth Ward’s answer to David LaChapelle.