Cardinals at the Window—a 135-track benefit compilation of unreleased songs, supporting flood relief in Western North Carolina—is out today. The lineup includes new music The War on Drugs, Angel Olsen, MJ Lenderman, Sharon Van Etten, Jeff Tweedy and Karly Hartzman, Waxahatchee, Sylvan Esso, Lonnie Holley, Feist, Fleet Foxes, Little Brother, Archers of Loaf, Iron & Wine, The Avett Brothers, and dozens more.

Cardinals at the Window was compiled by three North Carolina natives with deep ties to the region: musician and community organizer Libby Rodenbough, New Commute founder David Walker, and music journalist Grayson Haver Currin, with crucial support from Shirlette Ammons, Martin Anderson, Anna Morris, Cory Rayborn, and Rusty Sutton. Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn and Asheville native Clay Blair provided free audio engineering work. The compilation is functioning in tandem with a direct-relief effort launched by musicians, artists, and Western North Carolina residents Ryan Gustafson (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,” 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.”

Cardinals at the Window crisscrosses genres, scenes, and state lines, as so many friends were eager to donate new music to the sudden cause of this enchanted region. There are entirely new songs from Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, MJ Lenderman, The Go-Betweens, Sharon Van Etten, Little Brother, Sylvan Esso, the Mountain Goats, Hotline TNT, Six Organs of Admittance, Archers of Loaf, Flock of Dimes, Chuck Johnson, Real Estate, and many more.

Live tracks of fan favorites from R.E.M., The War on Drugs, Phish, Tyler Childers, Fleet Foxes, Angel Olsen, Drive-By Truckers, Tune-Yards, Superchunk, The Avett Brothers, The Decemberists, American Aquarium, and more top the compilation. Waxahatchee and Sluice each cover Gillian Welch tunes recorded exclusively for Cardinals at the Window, while Iron & Wine covers the Bee Gees’ “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.” Tennessee’s Adeem the Artist even recorded a take on Elizabeth Cotten’s “Freight Train” in the headquarters of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation just for this compilation.

Other highlights of this 135-track labor of love? Dobro master Jerry Douglas joins Jason Isbell for “Children of Children,” while Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman sing “How Hard It Is For Desert To Die.” (There’s a demo of a very new Hartzman track, too, “Baby Me.”) S.G. Goodman and Bonnie “Prince” Billy—both from flood-prone regions of Kentucky—duet on “Nature’s Child,” written by Asheville’s Tyler Ladd and delivering a potential suggestion of an album Goodman is now finishing. Animal Collective’s Geologist presents an absorbing new track actually inspired by North Carolina’s mountains, “Route 9 Falls,” made with friend Doug Shaw. Lonnie Holley ponders his life alongside Jeff Parker and Jacknife Lee on “Tonky’s Rocket Ship,” while Sylvan Esso dig into the basics of a big beat and an inescapable hook on “One More.” That’s just the start; the full tracklist is below.

Long providing crucial community support in Asheville and working directly on social justice issues impacting a rapidly changing city, BeLoved Asheville has redirected all of its resources to direct relief for those impacted by Hurricane Helene. Since 1978, the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina has provided crucial relief and resources for 18 counties in the state, with special focuses on education, cultural and natural resources, and the basic needs of citizens in its region. Founded in 2017 in the now-flood-ravaged Madison County, Rural Organizing and Resilience, or ROAR, is doing direct work on the ground to keep people fed, housed, and clothed and to begin the long process of cleanup and rebuilding.

“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.”

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)

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