Folk Songs About Hurricane Katrina, Floods, New Orleans

Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on the morning of Monday, August 29, 2005. It was a Category 4 storm which exceeded the design limit of the levees (Category 3). The flooding recalled the great flood of 1927.

[played 2007]
Robert Earl Keen\ Hello New Orleans\ Gravitational Forces\ Lost Highway
Del Rey\ When the Levee Breaks\ When the Levee Breaks\ Hobemian
Rodney Crowell w/Emmylou Harris\ Shelter From the Storm\ The Outsider\ Sugar Hill
The Wilders\ When the Levee's Gone\ Throw Down\ Rural Grit
Lucinda Williams\ Crescent City\ Epon.\ Koch
John McCutcheon\ Hope Dies Last\ This Fire\ Appalsongs

Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen / Hurricane / Being There /
Anais Mitchell, Out of Pawn, The Brightness
Hawkeye Herman\ Katrina, Oh Katrina (Hurricane Blues)
Bob Dylan\ The Levee's Gonna Break\ Modern Times\ Columbia
Eileen Jewell\ The Flood\ Boundary County\ Self
The Wilders\ When the Levee's Gone\ Throw Down\ Rural Grit
Bill Staines\ Louisiana Storm\ The Second Million Miles
Randy Newman\ Louisiana 1927 (also covered by Old School Freight Train, Marcia Ball)
Tom Rush\ Galveston Flood\ Best of
Tim O'Brien\ House of the Rising Sun\ Cornbread Nation
Pete Seeger\ House of the Rising Sun\ American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 2\ Smithsonian/Folkways
Bob Dylan\ Shelter From the Storm (also done by Rodney Crowell)
Michelle Shocked\ Evacuation Route\ Don't Ask Don't Tell
Nanci Griffith\ Wasn't That A Mighty Storm\ Other Voices Too
Memphis Minnie\ When the Levee Breaks\ Queen of the Blues\ Yazoo
Bob Franke\ Alleluia, The Great Storm is Over\ The Other Evening in Chicago\ Waterbug
Jimmie Rodgers\ My Little Old Home Down in New Orleans\ The Early Years\ Rounder
The Carter Family\ The Storms are on the Ocean\ Anchored in Love\ Rounder
Blind Lemon Jefferson\ Rising High Water Blues\ Blind Lemon Jefferson\ Milestone
Woody Guthrie\ I Ain't Got No Home in this World Anymore\ Hard Travelin'\ Smithsonian/Folkways
Bing Bang Boys\ Creole Bell\ I'm Feelin' Good\ Rubinchik
Doc Watson\ Deep River Blues\ Legacy\ High Windy
Dave Van Ronk\ St. James Infirmary\ Two Sides\ Fantasy
Cathy Barton & Dave Para\ Levee Breakdown/Jefferson City Hornpipe\ Crazy Quilt\ Self (instrumental)
Mississippi John Hurt\ Make Me A Pallet on Your Floor\ Today!\ Vanguard
Paul Kamm & Eleanore MacDonald\ I've Got To Know\ Fool's Paradise\ Freewheel
Hurricane - Phil Rosenthal "A Matter of Time", Sierra-Hollywood 
Like A Hurricane – Chris Hillman 

Additional song suggestions? Email Richard Gillmann


Folk Music Song Themes Last modified