There’s nary a reference to Katrina, hurricane or the flood on these 14 tracks, but on Live in Pompeii, The Fens’ Sneaky Pete Orr unloads barrage after barrage at post-Katrina society. Unlike what it could be—a dreary, minor chord–drenched maudlin affair—it’s instead one part string-bending Americana, one part trad jazz, one part vaudeville and one part Benny Grunch laced with biting social commentary and acerbic wit.

On “Bucky James,” Orr comments how the boutique-type hipsters have displaced New Orleans’ legendary characters; “Moonrise Over Holy Cross” features Sarah Quintana warbling about how New Orleans is the only place to be, accompanied by piano and trumpet. Along the way, there are frenetic suicide splatterings, unscrupulous real estate leeches, eroding coastlines and hopes that someday disgraced politicians David Vitter and William Jefferson will be cellmates. Even without the warped humor and the much-needed perspective, it would still stand as an inviting body of music.

Besides writing the whole album, Orr played guitars, electric bass, piano, mandolin, banjos, glockenspiel, harmonica and even bottles and a wine glass while enlisting a dozen others like Aurora Nealand (sax) and Andy J. Forest (harmonica). There’s diversity in the arrangements, as evidenced by the punchy calypso horns on “Cajun Haiti” and the spoofy doo-wop “Lucky,” a toxic blend of New Orleans culture and the Mothers of Invention.Yet nothing can top the macabre “Ghouls,” the album’s bombshell and closing track. It’s a protest against the Lower Ninth Ward devastation tours, suggesting visitors can stage such freak shows when shootings and other atrocities occur in their town.