Phish, R.E.M., The War on Drugs, Waxahatchee, Jason Isbell and 130 More Share Unreleased Recordings for ‘Cardinals at the Window’ Benefit Album
Since Hurricane Helene lashed through the Southeast and devastated Western North Carolina last week, the nation’s music community has banded together to support the region’s recovery efforts. The scale of this mobilization of artists and organizers is apparent today with the release of Cardinals at the Window, a 135-track benefit compilation of unreleased recordings from some of the biggest acts from across a wide variety of genres. From those intimate connected to Western North Carolina to those just eagerly offering life-saving support for those impacted by the crisis, some of the most prominent names on the project include Phish, R.E.M., The War on Drugs, Waxahatchee, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Fleet Foxes, Jason Isbell, The Avett Brothers, The Decemberists and M.J. Lenderman. The download-only project is available now on Bandcamp.
Cardinals at the Window was organized by musician and community organizer Libby Rodenbough, New Commute label founder David Walker and music journalist Grayson Haver Currin–all three North Carolina natives with strong personal connections to the affected area. All proceeds from the compilation will benefit the people of Western North Carolina through the distribution of funds to Rural Organizing and Resilience, BeLoved Asheville and the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, all of which are engaged in crucial work for the affected communities. The collection is also operating in tandem with the myriad direct-relief programs launched by artists and Western N.C. residents Ryan Gustafson of The Dead Tongues 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,” offers Rodenbough, who was on tour with The Dead Tongues when the Category 4 storm hit her Madison County 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.”
The songs that compose Cardinals at the Window are demos, unearthed live recordings, vaulted originals and new cover treatments recorded exclusively for the collection. Among the live cuts featured are R.E.M.’s “King of Birds (Live in Greensboro, 1989),” The War on Drugs’ “Harmonia’s Dream (Live from New York),” Tyler Childers’ “Bus Route (Live),” Fleet Foxes’ “Blue Ridge Mountains (Live from The Spring Recital),” Tim Heidecker’s “Property (Live at Dynasty Typewriter),” Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings’ “Hashtag (Live from Newport Folk Festival 2024)” and Phish’s “Sand (Live at Reynolds Coliseum, 1999),” which closes the project. Exclusive covers come from Waxahatchee and Sluice, who treat Welch’s “Wrecking Ball” and “Hard Times,” and Iron & Wine, who issues a haunting folk re-imagining of the Bee Gees’ “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.”
Elsewhere, Jerry Douglas and Isbell team up for “Children of Children” live at Nashville, Tenn.’s Ryman Auditorium, Jeff Tweedy and Karly Hartzman of Wednesday duet “How Hard It Is For Desert To Die,” S.G. Goodman and Bonnie “Prince” Billy duet “Nature’s Child” and avant-garde pioneer Lonnie Holley taps Jeff Parker and Jacknife Lee for a profound meditation on memory in “Tonky’s Rocket Ship.” Other standouts volunteers include William Tyler, Dawes & Hiss Golden Messenger, Lenderman, H.C. McEntire, Mary Lattimore, Bill Orcutt and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, who share “Change (Demo 4)”
“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’s statement 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.”
Purchase Cardinals at the Window here. To learn more about the project, visit musicspromise.salsalabs.org.
Read on for the complete tracklist.
Cardinals at the Window Tracklist:
1. The War on Drugs – Harmonia’s Dream (Live from New York)
2. Angel Olsen – Can’t Wait Until Tomorrow (Live At Echo Mountain)
3. Sluice – Hard Times
4. S.G. Goodman feat. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Nature’s Child
5. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats – Smilin’
6. Rosali – Hey Heron
7. Luke Schneider – Vapor Ascensus
8. Fleet Foxes – Blue Ridge Mountains (Live from The Spring Recital)
9. Floating Action – We Live Inside A Dream
10. The Dead Tongues – Daylily (Demo)
11. Lambchop – Is There a Doctor in the House?
12. R.E.M. – King of Birds (Live in Greensboro, 1989)
13. Little Brother feat. BeMyFiasco x Denaine Jones – The Way
14. Yasmin Williams – Untitled
15. Setting – Night Divers
16. Magic Tuber Stringband – Flotsam
17. Weirs – The Carolina Lady
18. Tyler Childers – Bus Route (Live)
19. Waxahatchee – Wrecking Ball
20. Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings – Hashtag (Live from Newport Folk Festival 2024)
21. Oak City Slums — Electric Trible
22. Shirlette Ammons – Corner Pocket (Small Pond Sessions)
23. Helado Negro – Running (Live at Drop of Sun)
24. William Tyler – Near a Thousand Tables
25. Sylvie – On The Wind
26. John Andrew & The Yawns – Talking To Me
27. Keven Louis Lareau – Your Tender Loving Care
28. Spencer Cullum, Sean Thompson & Rich Ruth – Levon’s Bark
29. Geologist & D.S. – Route 9 Falls
30. Daniel Bachman – Lovers On The Turnpike
31. The Avett Brothers – Cheap Coffee (Live)
32. Terry Allen & The Panhandle Mystery Band – Rainy Day
33. Jason Isbell – Children of Children – Live At The Ryman 10/15/17
34. Dawes & Hiss Golden Messenger – Haunted House
35. Deer Tick – Time To Leave
36. The Nude Party – Fallin’ Rain
37. Tim Heidecker – Property (Live at Dynasty Typewriter)
38. Chuck Johnson – Arctic Halo
39. Laraaji – Music Laughter Episode Track 78
40. Universal Light – Minor Suite
41. Feist – Borrow Trouble (Demo)
42. Kevin Morby – American Holly
43. Jeff Tweedy (feat. Karly Hartzman) – How Hard It Is For Desert To Die (Live from Solid Sound)
44. Mipso – Cornfields
45. Danny Paul Grody – Distant Blue
46. Real Estate – Pink Sky
47. Real Companion – Long Leaf Overtime (iPhone Demo)
48. Sam Evian – Long, Long, Long
49. The Go-Betweens – Ashes On The Lawn
50. M. Duffy – Easy and Down
51. Indigo De Souza – Hungry & Croaking
52. BeMyFiasco – Take My Strong Hand
53. Marta Salogni – For Vibraphone and Tapes
54. Pachyman – NYC
55. Skylar Gudasz – Lean Closer To Me Now
56. Lou Hazel – Bulldog
57. Blue Cactus – The Gift (Demo)
58. Nathan Bowles – Gadarene (Tarboro)
59. Drive-By Truckers – Baggage (Live, 2018)
60. MJ Lenderman – Pianos
61. American Aquarium – Crier (Live at Red Rocks 5/9/24)
62. The Hold Steady – Certain Songs (Live at 9:30 Club)
63. H.C. McEntire – Dovetail (Get Down Version)
64. Futurebirds – 5am (Live from Moodright’s)
65. Fust – The Highlands of the Heart
66. Joseph Allred – Marion
67. Libby Rodenbough – Oh What A Beautiful Morning
68. Uwade – Belvedere
69. Iron & Wine – How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
70. Tyler Ramsey – New Lost Ages (A Parkway Session, from Asheville)
71. Bahamas – Say What You Like (Live at Massey Hall)
72. Water Liars – Swannanoa (Demo Version)
73. Joseph Decosimo & Jake Xerxes Fussell – Bob Wills Stomp (Live at Nightlight 7.26.22)
74. Lonnie Holley (with Jacknife Lee) – Tonky’s Rocket Ship
75. Sophie Thatcher – My Friend
76. Riggings – Strep Season
77. Etran De L’Aïr – Ighre Massina (Live at Madame Lou’s)
78. the Mountain Goats – Hand of Death
79. Superchunk – Wild Loneliness (Live for the Current)
80. Archers of Loaf – Great Holding Down
81. Hotline TNT – Candle
82. Karly Hartzman – Baby Me (Demo)
83. Squirrel Flower – Finally Rain (Live in St. Louis)
84. Object Hours – Street Scene (Live at Shadowbox)
85. Adeem The Artist – Freight Train (From DR Byen)
86. Sy Smith – Bigger Than The Work
87. Hayden Pedigo – John Frusciante’s Trailer House
88. Little Mazarn & Jonathan Horne – Lightning in the Water (Live at the Historic Dry Creek Cafe 10/17/21)
89. Carpenter / Cohen – Monuments
90. Jenks Miller & Rose Cross NC – Summerland
91. Christopher Paul Stelling – Me and I
92. Matthew E. White – Shine a Light (Solo Piano)
93. James Elkington – MEQZ
94. Rich Ruth – Super 8
95. Darien Brockington – Only One (Zo! & Tall Black Guy Remix)
96. Sylvan Esso – One More
97. Sonny Miles – Silverpieces
98. pat junior – U.D.O.
99. Flock of Dimes – Potential
100. Fancy Gap – Starlight Motel
101. Carlitta Durand – Slip Up
102. Wye Oak – No Good Reason
103. Eric Slick – Another Sunset
104. RIBS – The Blues II
105. Lydia Loveless – Loser
106. Julianna Riolino – Don’t Put Me In The Middle
107. Mary Lattimore – I’ll See You Tomorrow
108. BCNC – PB Yards
109. Wood Ear – Ex Winter
110. Eli Winter Trio – Dayenu (Live)
111. Little Wings – Honey Bird’s Power Outage
112. Sharon Van Etten – Weather
113. Boulevards – Mad Man
114. The Foreign Exchange – Can’t Turn Around (Nicolay’s Hostile Takeover Mix)
115. Daughter of Swords – Alone Together
116. Tune-Yards – Hypnotized (Live from Brooklyn)
117. Calexico – Across The Wire (Live from Tollhaus)
118. The Decemberists – William Fitzwilliam (Live)
119. Bill Orcutt – Sad And Familiar
120. Ethan Baechtold – small talk between friends
121. Watchhouse – Harvest Moon
122. Sarah Louise – Dancing and Keening (My Body is a Part of the Earth)
123. Wet Tuna – So Much Vibe in the World (A Sweet Pond Nug)
124. Sunburned Hand of the Man with Mazozma – JJ Fale
125. David Michael Moore – A Little Spanish Delight
126. Les Savy Fav – Four Divided By One
127. Six Organs of Admittance – Sunrise at Sunset
128. Mind Over Mirrors – Rushing Airglow
129. Eric Bachmann – Wicked Little Dream
130. Wooden Wand – Sky Blue Aster (Homegrown Version)
131. Edsel Axle – Wipe Your Eyes and See
132. House Band – Three
133. Tropical Fuck Storm – Chameleon Paint (Live at Lincoln Hall)
134. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Change (Demo 4)
135. Phish – Sand (Live at Reynolds Coliseum, 1999)
