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A week ago last Sunday at the annual Rhythm & Roots Festival in Kingston, Rhode Island . . .
. . .
. . . with a plea to "Give what you can, because New Orleans will be back."
Those feelings are echoed by former Continental Drifters singer Susan Cowsill who'll be the first New Orleans artist to hit town since Katrina: she's at Fall River's Festival foar the Arts this Sunday afternoon and then at Johnny D's on Wednesday. Under normal circumstances her current tour would be an upbeat occasion: her fine solo debut, Just Believe It, which saw limited release last year, is coming out nationally on Blue Corn. She's been doing a monthly "Covered in Vinyl" series at Carrolton Station, performing favorite Joni Mitchell and Neil Young albums in their entirety. At Johnny D's, she'll mix some of that material with her own.
Cowsill and her husband, drummer Russ Broussard, had been living in New Orleans's midcity district. When I caught up with her, she'd been dividing her time between volunteering at the Red Cross and catching up on a week's worth of sleep. "The words 'scattered' and 'shattered' come to mind right now," she said over the phone from Nashville. "This is a heartbreaking, it is mid-blowing, it is more than any of us could fathom. But that being said, this isn't the first time any of this has happened, and we'll rise from the ashes. Right now we're waiting to see what out house looks like and find out when, not if, we can move back. My daughter is asking me if New Orleans is done, and I have to say, 'Gimme a break - it's been here since the 1600s, and it's not going away now.' "
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