Jolie Holland, the idiosyncratic folk singer-songwriter (who’s one of my favorites) is spearheading an effort to raise money to benefit the people whose homes were devastated by hurricanes in 2017. The first installment is Hummingbirds & Helicopters Vol. 1: A Benefit for South Texas, a response to the damage wrought to the Houston area and the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Harvey. It shines a spotlight on this battered area of the United States and at the same time is a loving homage to Gulf Coast musical culture.
Holland is a native of Houston who has also lived in New Orleans (as well as Vancouver, B.C., Brooklyn, Portland, and probably lots of other places along the way). As she was preparing for a tour with Samantha Parton in support of their 2017 album Wildflower Blues, Harvey was creating in the Houston area what’s been called the worst flooding in U.S. history. “It was a horrible feeling, that mix of helplessness, survivor guilt, and longing to be there to help,” Holland says. “By the time the plane hit the ground in Austin, I’d thought of something I could do: a benefit record for the Gulf Coast.”
The musicians and the songs selected for the album all have some relationship to the Gulf Coast or Houston or Texas in general, or just to the damage wrought by hurricanes. It opens with an intriguing cover by Holland of Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927,” with the avant-garde percussion ensemble Thor and Friends backing Holland’s vocals and piano. I love this cover, stripped down to the bare essentials and featuring lots of percussion, plus Holland’s ghostly violin weaving in and out amid her piano chords and vocals.
In addition to Holland, I’m familiar with fewer than half of the musicians featured on H&H, which is perfect for a benefit compilation. This kind of project should introduce you to songs and singers you don’t already know. Now, you can’t talk about Gulf Coast songwriters without including Lucinda Williams, and she gets plenty of love on this collection. The L.A.-based torch singer Iva Dawn kills it on Williams’s smoldering “Are You Down,” and Austin singer Laura Freeman similarly nails “The Night’s Too Long,” in an arresting arrangement that includes some interestingly augmented guitar sounds.
Likewise, you can’t honor Houston in song without including Townes Van Zandt, who lived there a big chunk of his life. His “To Live’s To Fly” is one of my favorite songs of all time and always a good choice when presenting his songs to those who may not know his work. The L.A.-based folk pop collective Arrica Rose and the …’s arrange the song beautifully; Rose’s vocal style is a little too emotive for my taste, but I don’t speak for everyone, that’s for sure. The San Francisco group Snickers, billed as low-fi ambient folk-pop, all but obliterate Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You,” which sounds like it was recorded with a single microphone inside a barrel full of water.
On the more mainstream end of the album are the likes of Bonnie “Prince” Billy with his straightforward take on Mickey Newbury’s “If You Ever Get to Houston” and Dean Ween’s cover of Glen Campbell’s mega-hit “Galveston” (written by the great Jimmy Webb, of course). More out in left field but still accessible are Myshkin Warbler’s chilling “Flood Blues” and Big Thief’s “High Tide.” That last is a song by the group Twain, which I can’t find out much about. Now, Ryan Pollie, who also performs as Los Angeles Police Department, is a label-mate of Holland’s at Anti, and his “Before The Deluge” is quietly affecting. As is Brooklyn-based Sam Cohen’s “One Day At A Time.” Beautiful, gentle voices, both of those young singers have.
The album is a digital-only release, available on all the top platforms. All proceeds will be donated to the UN award-winning Schoolbox Project, a 501c3 non-profit that provides trauma-informed care for children rendered homeless or without access to education due to the deluge. As the Schoolbox Project’s work in Texas winds down, additional funds raised will support continuing relief work in the hurricane-affected areas of the Gulf and Caribbean, including Puerto Rico.
Holland plans a second volume to benefit those in need in the Caribbean, especially Puerto Rico, in the wake of Hurricane Irma.
(Cinquefoil Records, 2018)
