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Hurricane Katrina may have devastated New Orleans and surrounding Gulf communities in 2005, but it was also a forceful reminder of the Crescent City's world renowned status as the epicenter of much American musical heritage. This benefit album (all net proceeds will be donated to the local efforts of Habitat for Humanity, with a portion specifically set aside to provide housing for local musicians left homeless by the disaster) picks up that latter thread, a sometimes bittersweet reminder of how deepy ingrained, yet all-too-fragile, that cultural legacy really is. Allen Toussaint's succulent reworking of his "Yes We Can Can" sets a rhythmic, optimistic tone that parallels his city's own historical resilience, while Dr. John turns in a bluesy, laid-back "World I Never Made" that's a sharp contrast to the flashes of anger he showed on Tab Benoit's earlier benefit collection, Voice of the Wetlands. Irma Thomas gives a swampy, timely edge to Bessie Smith's "Back Water Blues" while others pay tribute to the region's history of gospel (Davell Crawford, Eddie Bo), indigenous cajun folk (Buckwheat Zydeco, Beausolei, Carol Fran) and legacy as the Birthplace of Jazz (vibrantly disparate contributions from Dr. Michael White, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the venerable Preservation Hall Jazz Band). The Wild Magnolias' medley "Brother John Is Gone/Herc-Jolly-John" is a joyous, African-rooted gumbo of musical possibilities, while Donald Harrison's sax work with The Wardell Querzergue's Orchestra's on "What a Wonderful World" is a fine preamble for Toussaint's elegiac solo piano rendition of "Tipitina and Me." Randy Newman's closer, a melancholic new version of Good Old Boys' "Louisiana 1927," is a tribute to his own N.O. roots whose refrain--"Louisiana, they're trying to wash us away"--is also a forceful, tragic reminder that history does indeed repeat. --Jerry McCulley