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Hi! Happy weekend.
In the interest of getting my newsletter open rate up, I might’ve made this subject line “The Best $10 You’ll Ever Spend,” but that’s tacky. Nevertheless! I do have an excellent suggestion for something you put a Hamilton toward, this weekend.
A hurricane relief benefit compilation of unreleased music, Cardinals at the Window, was released on Wednesday. The project includes covers and live recordings alongside original songs (including new releases from MJ Lenderman, Little Brother, and Sylvan Esso); all told, the tracklist tops out at 136 songs. It’s very good and is available for $10 on Bandcamp.
Organized in less than two weeks by Libby Rodenbough, David Walker, and Grayson Haver Currin, the effort is raising funds for direct-action efforts on the ground in western North Carolina. As of this afternoon, it’s raised $240,000.
“We started asking folks about it on the Saturday after the storm and by the following Wednesday I had lost track of everybody who’d signed up,” Rodenbough told the INDY. “I think it has something to do with how this area gets sneakily into people’s souls, even if you’ve just passed through.”
While it features artists from all over, the project—with Tar Heel contributions from Angel Olsen, Superchunk, the Mountain Goats, the Avett Brothers, Mary Lattimore, Iron & Wine, and so many more—is a testimony to North Carolina’s far-flung talent and the imprint that the Blue Ridge Mountains leaves on people.
You truly won’t ever again encounter live recordings from Tyler Childs and Phish (it’s 22 minutes; admittedly, I did not make it all the way through) alongside new instrumentals from Yasmin Williams and Daniel Bachman and rap from Pat Junior.
Here are my personal favorites: Sluice’s sonorous cover of Gillian Welch’s “Hard Times,” a live rendition of “Finally Rain” by Squirrel Flower, bluesy reverie “Corner Pocket” from Shirlette Ammons, “Bulldog” from Lou Hazel, and “Hungry & Croaking,” a new release from Marshall musician Indigo De Souza that lands with a particular ache, as her home was destroyed by the hurricane.
If you’re interested in going deeper with the music, we’ve covered just about all of these artists. Here are a few: Shirlette Ammons, Fancy Gap, Pat Junior, Sluice, Sonny Miles, Libby Rodenbough, Magic Tuber Stringband.
elsewhere in the culture section
Western North Carolina artists have lost a lot after Hurricane Helene.
Siblings Arturo and Karina Perez started Del Norte, a homegrown tortilla business without a storefront or a website yet, just last year—but already, their tortillas are flying off the shelves (or through the DMs, more accurately). Read about their Bill Smith-endorsed flour tortillas here and maybe try them out at their first pop-up, a hurricane relief event at Cocoa Cinnamon, this weekend.
out and about in the triangle
Benchwarmer Bagels is opening a second (larger!) location near Dix Park and downtown Raleigh is getting a “modern burger joint.” Crawford Cookshop has closed in Clayton. Festifall is back in Chapel Hill. This immersive installation looks cool. WUNC Music has a comprehensive list of all the hurricane relief concerts planned this fall.
out and about in the world
I loved this bittersweet, nostalgic short story about a father seeing his daughter off to college. “Can the Nobel Prize Save Publishing From Itself?” A Black surrealist finally gets his due.
— Sarah Edwards —
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