These new releases from Preservation Hall share the same appeal: They reflect real people being real. The Lastie Family Gospel is the sound of vocalist Bettie Ann Lastie, organist Reverend Leon Vaughn, Joseph Lastie, Jr. on drums, and the musicians in the Hall for a Joseph Lastie, Jr. session playing gospel with no sense of audience or occasion. There are technical imperfections as people followed the spirit away from the microphones, and what passes for arrangements happened spontaneously as the musicians liked what they heard and joined in.

The results are ragged but full of life. Betty Ann Lastie’s performance, and Vaughn’s B3 chases and pushes her to new heights of passion, the two spiraling together in a riveting, spiritual dance. It’s the sort of dance that only happens when you aren’t thinking about Like the best moments in the Jazz Fest Gospel Tent, you might not be religious, but you can hear their faith, assurance and inspiration it provides them.

Carl LeBlanc’s album is one only he could make. In keeping with the title’s concept, he’s a storyteller on the album, prefacing “You Can Depend on Me” with reminiscences of Sun Ra and Narvin Kimball, and “Roll Call” namechecks the guys he knew growing up in his neighborhood. He plays all the instruments, and records ’80s funk on one track, then plays a fuzzed-out guitar as the only accompaniment on his cover of Elton John’s “Madman Across the Water.”

Like the Lastie album, there’s the sense he’s making the album for himself. Not everything has an obvious point, and the spare treatment won’t be to everyone’s taste—certainly not those who know him from the Hall. But the best moments, such as the utterly lovely “Indian Love Song,” which treats the Jock-a-mo chant as a lover’s code, reveal why he should follow his muse. In LeBlanc and the Lasties’ case, the spirit ultimately leads them in life-affirming directions.