135-Song Cardinals at the Window Benefit Compilation to Support Flood Relief in Western North Carolina
The compilation is out now. See the tracklist and flood relief resources below.
Today, a 135-song compilation featuring new music from R.E.M., Jeff Tweedy, MJ Lenderman, Angel Olsen, Fleet Foxes, Waxahatchee, Feist, The War on Drugs and more has been released, with all proceeds benefiting flood relief in Western North Carolina after the recent catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Helene. Cardinals at the Window was compiled by community organizer Libby Rodenbough, New Commute founder David Walker and journalist Grayson Haver Currin, with support from Rusty Sutton, Anna Morris, Cory Rayborn and Shirlette Ammons. The project was engineered by Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn and Asheville nate Clay Blair.
The compilation exists in tandem with a direct-relief effort launched by musicians, artists and Western North Carolina residents Ryan Gustafson and Hunter Savoy. “There were just so many folks who, like us, had witnessed the destruction of these holy places from the outside and felt their hearts trying to break out of their chests,” says Rodenbough, a Madison County resident who was on tour in Massachusetts with The Dead Tongues when the storm hit her home. “It was instant, the way people signed on. They also feel what I feel, that these mountains are the cradle of some deep and ineffable magic.”
Brand new songs from MJ Lenderman, Sharon Van Etten, the Mountain Goats, Hotline TNT, Chuck Johnson, Real Estate and Sylvan Esso are coupled with live songs from R.E.M., Tyler Childers, Drive-By Truckers, Superchunk and others, while Sluice and Waxahatchee both contributed Gillian Welch covers to the compilation. Iron & Wine covers the Bee Gees’ “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” while Adeem the Artist tackled Elizabeth Cotten’s “Freight Train.”
Elsewhere, Lonnie Holley teams up with Jeff Parker and Jacknife Lee, Animal Collective’s Geologist absorbs the North Carolina mountains, S.G. Goodman and Bonnie “Prince” Billy duet on “Nature’s Child,” Jerry Douglas and Jason Isbell combine for “Children of Children,” and Karly Hartzman performs “How Hard It Is For Desert to Die” with Jeff Tweedy.
“In the aftermath of a ‘natural disaster,’ it’s important to situate this manifestation of ecological collapse within a history of inequitable exploitation of land and people,” Rodenbough continues. “This is a region that has suffered in the name of human progress for a long time. I hope we’re going to take this opportunity to start building a different kind of world in Western North Carolina and beyond.”
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