Preservation Hall Benefit Album Released Today

Day 2-Voodoo Experience Festival, New Orleans, LA (10-31-09)-2511, originally uploaded by BetweenLoveandLike.

New Orleans has been having one ginormous party with Mardi Gras this past week, made even crazier I hear with the Saints winning the Superbowl. Fat Tuesday is always the pinnacle of this throwdown.

I was slated to ride a float this past Saturday with the Krewe of Tucks but due to scheduling conflicts, I had to bow out (but next year baby, let me tell you what! I'll be there with bells on), so, admittedly, I was feeling a tad blue. But thankfully, those blues are no more since I discovered the release of Preservation: An album benefitting Preservation Hall and the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program" which came out today (which is absolutely appropriate as today is Fat Tuesday).

Over the last year, more than 20 American vocalists traveled to Preservation Hall in New Orleans to collaborate with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on classic New Orleans repertoire. With artists like Tom Waits, Jason Isbell, Steve Earle, and Corey Chisel this is an incredible collection of songs that will have you struggling to stay in your chair (unless your boss is ok with your dancing at work that is). Tom Waits' boozy-swing rendition of "Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing" is so good it's rumored to be the song for all the big Fat Tuesday parties this year (be sure to listen for Waits' scatting in the beginning!). And Jason Isbell paired with heavy piano so owns the cover of "Nobody Knows You," you'd think he lived and wrote the song itself.

"Our community is deeply rooted in a tradition of using music to rejoice, heal and overcome adversity. We play music at our funerals to uplift our spirits during our deepest and darkest emotional moments," says producer Ben Jaffe, PHJB Creative Director and son of Preservation Hall founders Allan and Sandra Jaffe. "My goal on this project was to create new works steeped in the New Orleans Tradition with artists from diverse musical genres and backgrounds who all share a mutual admiration and deep appreciation for our cultural heritage."

Indeed. New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz but what's fascinating is how that sound, that spirit, that inspiration carried forth and found its way elsewhere, into all sorts of musical styles beyond the borders of jazz and Louisiana. "Preservation Benefit" is a wonderful snapshot of the sound and feel of New Orleans music and New Orleans itself. And it serves as another reminder of the amazing and unique things that New Orleans gives back to the world, things that you'll find no place else.

All proceeds go to benefit the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program. Listening options include standard cd, deluxe cd, and vinyl. The deluxe cd includes six additional tracks.

-Purchase Record
-Give a Listen: Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing-PHJB and Tom Waits from Preservation: An album benefitting Preservation Hall and the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program
-Additional tracks streaming here

Preservation Track List
1. Shake It And Break It (with Andrew Bird)
2. Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea (with Paolo Nutini)
3. Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing (with Tom Waits)
4. Louisiana Fairytale (with Yim Yames)
5. After You ve Gone (with Del McCoury)
6. Freight Train (with Ani DiFranco)
7. Blue Skies (with Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger)
8. Nobody Knows You (with Jason Isbell)
9. Old Rugged Cross (with Brandi Carlile)
10. Trouble In Mind (with Richie Havens)
11. Basin Street Blues (with Merle Haggard)
12. There Is A Light (with The Blind Boys of Alabama and Clint Maedgen)
13. Winin Boy (with Dr. John)
14. Rocking Chair (with Louis Armstrong)
15. Baby Won t You Please Come Home (with Amy LaVere)
16. Taint Nobody's Business (with Steve Earle)
17. Some Cold Rainy Day (with Cory Chisel)
18. I Ain't Got Nobody (with Buddy Miller)
19. La Vie En Rose (with Angelique Kidjo & Terence Blanchard)

Extra deluxe cd tracks
20. C est Si Bon (with Anita Briem)
21. Pencil Full of Lead (with Paolo Nutini)
22. St. James Infirmary (with Yim Yames)
23. Corinne Died On The Battlefield (with Tom Waits)
24. Careless Love (with Del McCoury)
25. Sailin Up Sailin Down (with Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger
26. We Shall Overcome (with Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger)