The phrase “cardinal at the window” means that some good luck is on the way. Even in the deadly aftermath of Hurricane Helene which devastated western North Carolina late last month, some good fortune is coming to the region by way of the new 135-track compilation Cardinals at the Window.

The massive collection consists entirely of unreleased music by a diverse array of artists including R.E.M., Phish, The Avett Brothers, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Tyler Childers, S.G. Goodman, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit with Jerry Douglas, Sharon Van Etten, and many, many more. Some of the artists contributed entirely new songs like Rateliff, Van Etten, Sylvan Esso, MJ Lenderman, the Mountain Goats and others, while others dug up live tracks including Phish, R.E.M., Tyler Childers, The Avett Brothers, Drive-By Truckers, The War on Drugs, and plenty more. Phish nodded to its time in the Tar Heel State with “Sand” from the band’s December 16th, 1999 concert at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.

Cardinals at the Window was organized 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. All proceeds from the digital-only album will benefit victims of Hurricane Helene through local charities BeLoved Asheville, Rural Organizing and Resilience, and the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina.

Related: Hurricane Helene Relief: Canceled Concerts, Who’s Helping, & How You Can Get Involved [Updates]

“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,” said 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.”

In a lengthy reflection accompanying the album, longtime Pitchfork writer Grayson Haver Currin observed,

In recent weeks, the world watched with increasing horror as the suddenly unnatural waters of Appalachia overran entire communities and cities, towns and farms. Places so many of us have loved for so long may now only exist as fading memories and lingering highwater marks, devastated not only by nature but also the fundamental ways we have changed nature. For some of us, it is a tragedy beyond imagination; for others on the ground, it is absolute reality.

Cardinals at the Window—named for an expression we’ve all heard in Appalachia, meaning that there’s a little luck on the way—is our modest attempt to help the best we can, to do what we might to help restore some small piece of a place so many of us love so much. Friends far and wide instantly offered up their work, only with the caveat that there be something more they could soon do, too. It is very tempting to curse the rain and the water that drowned and destroyed so much of Appalachia. Most of the time, though, it is part of what makes the place special, unforgettable, unique—a home worth keeping, where land and water and sky merge into perfect union, natural and spellbinding.

Fellow album organizer Rusty Sutton wrote, “A friend of mine who stayed behind to spearhead aid efforts in his neighborhood shared these words earlier, and I think they’ll live with me forever: ‘Our terrain wasn’t meant to handle this storm, but our community was built for the aftermath.'”

Purchase the Cardinals at the Window compilation on Bandcamp for $10 or contribute to the direct-relief effort organized by local musicians, artists, and WNC residents here. See below for the full 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)

View Tracklist