Folk Songs About Hurricanes, 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.

In September of 2008, Hurriance Ike struck Galveston, TX recalling the great flood of 1900, which killed 6,000 people (the worst disaster in U.S. history).

[played 2008]
The Ferryboat Musicians\ Louisiana Storm\ Overboard!\ Ferryboat
Nanci Griffith\ Wasn't That A Mighty Storm\ Other Voices, Too\ Elektra
Bob Dylan\ The Levee's Gonna Break\ Modern Times\ Columbia
Tim O'Brien\ House Of The Risin' Sun\ Cornbread Nation\ Sugar Hill
Bob Franke\ Alleluia, The Great Storm Is Over\ The Other Evening In Chicago\ Waterbug
Taylor Pie\ Gulf Of Mexico\ So Little Has Changed\ Self

[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

Jack Williams \ Mighty Storm (about Galveston)
Jack Williams \ O Chain Lightning
Stanley Bros. \ Story of the Flood
Bruce Holmes - When the Wind Returns
Erica Wheeler - Muddy Waters - Good Summer Rain
Lori B- Hurricane Child (Hurricane Child)
John Fogerty- Walking in a Hurricane (Blue Moon Swamp)
Adie Grey- Hurricane's Comin' (Brane new Old Time Music)
David Rodriguez (Carrie's father)- Hurricane (The True Cross)
Tom Russell- Hurricane Season (Hurricane Season)
Paul Simon- Hurricane Eye (You're the One)
Gwen Swick- Middle of a Hurricane (Love and Gold)
Christine Lavin- Here Comes Hurricane Season (Happy Dance of the Xenophobe)
Kris Delmhorst- Hurricane (Songs for a Hurricane)
Mindy Smith- Hurricane (One Moment More)
BR549- After the Hurricane (Dog Days)
Rod MacDonald- The Lucky Ones (A Tale of Two Americas)
Kim Barlow's "Hurricane Jane" on her album Humminah.
Dylan's "Crash on the Levee" (Down in the Flood)
Loudon Wainwright III's "Natural Disaster", found on his Final Exam album. 
Galveston Flood.  Joe Hickerson sings it on Folk Legacy's 5 Days Singing Vol. II

Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen / Hurricane / Being There /
Anais Mitchell, Out of Pawn, The Brightness
Hawkeye Herman\ Katrina, Oh Katrina (Hurricane Blues)
Eileen Jewell\ The Flood\ Boundary County\ Self
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
Michelle Shocked\ Evacuation Route\ Don't Ask Don't Tell
Memphis Minnie\ When the Levee Breaks\ Queen of the Blues\ Yazoo
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
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 

Note: Bob Dylans' song "Hurricane" is not about the weather!

Additional song suggestions? Email Richard Gillmann


Folk Music Song Themes Last modified