This compilation of Hurricane Katrina-themed songs emerges from Carrollton Station’s singer/songwriter scene, and it is a good reflection of the scene. Some are truly talented, some have good songs and some are, ummm, trying hard. At 20 songs, Feeder Bands on the Run is a democratic collection, though it would be a better listening experience with a little less democracy. There are clear highlights such as Woodenhead/Twangorama’s Jimmy Robinson’s “Black Rain,” which is a fast-fingered Delta blues, and Station owner Eric Orlando’s “Home,” which is good southern blues rock. Susan Cowsill, Beatin Path, Andi Hoffman, John Gros, Anders Osborne and Fred LeBlanc also make strong contributions. The writers, though, face a bigger challenge than perhaps they recognized when they set out to write post-Katrina songs. How do you write about something as momentous as a devastating hurricane and the displacement that followed without being mawkish or diminishing the experience? The best make a musical transformation of some sort, finding a friendly context like Robinson’s blues or the Counting Crows-like scope of Cowsill’s “Crescent City Snow.”

 

The album is a benefit CD to help New Orleans musicians, so the contributors’ hearts are in the right place, and even the lesser tracks are valuable. Almost all the tracks add a detail or a twist on an emotion to the city’s body of Katrina lore. The best and worst songs on Feeder Bands on the Run help people understand not only what happened to New Orleans, but how people felt about it, and that’s a pretty significant contribution.