David Roe with the Royal Rounders and Friends, Angel of New Orleans (Royal Rags)

David Roe is lucky to be alive. On March 15, 1999 he and his wife Laura were passengers on the “City of New Orleans” train that derailed, crashed and burned in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Eleven people lost their lives in that wreck but Roe survived and returned to New Orleans, recording this CD seven months later. A portion of the proceeds from the album are being donated to rescue agencies whose workers pulled the Roes and other passengers from the wreckage and helped them recover from their injuries. As a tribute to them, the album includes Roe’s rollicking version of Arlo Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans,” complete with the lively bluegrass sounds of Thomas Nuendel’s fiddle and Jim Hancock’s mandolin. The album consists of mostly standards done in Dixieland style, among them “When You’re Smiling,” “Bye Bye Blues,” “Back in Your Own Back Yard” and, of course, the obligatory “Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey.” For the most part, this is straight-up, hand-clapping, toe-tapping New Orleans brass band fare. Roe’s ensemble spans the generations, including 72 year-old Jack Fine blowing up a storm on cornet and singing lead on two of the tracks. Roe’s growling rendition of “Old Man River” isn’t likely to make anyone forget Paul Robeson’s signature version of the Kern/Hammerstein classic from “Show Boat,” nor is his treatment of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” likely to make anyone forget Mama Cass Elliot’s sultry swan song. Nonetheless, this is a feel-good album. You can’t listen to it and sit still, which means that its purpose is being accomplished.