In the aftermath following Hurricane Helene, several artists have banded together to release a massive curation of songs to aid in raising money to help the victims in the hurricane. Cardinals at the Window - a 135-track compilation of unreleased recordings from an all-star collection of bands that includes R.E.M., The War on Drugs, Angel Olsen, Fleet Foxes, Jason Isbell, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, the Mountain Goats, Sylvan Esso, and 130 more -- is live this morning on Bandcamp.

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.

For more information about Cardinals at the Window, or to learn more about other associated relief efforts, please email the organizers at [email protected] or visit https://musicspromise.salsalabs.org/CardinalsattheWindow/index.html.