The very first piece of mail I received when I came home to New Orleans after two long months away was the new subdudes album. Talk about good omens! Recorded pre-Katrina at Dockside Studios near Lafayette, the album’s title refers to the physical location where the ’dudes laid down ten soulful tracks with blues legend Keb’ Mo’ behind the board. But from the moment the Dirty Dozen brass their way into the funky opener “Social Aid and Pleasure Club” Behind the Levee resonates with post-Katrina meaning and is just what the Doctor ordered to heal the breaches in our homes and our hearts.

“Social Aid and Pleasure Club” celebrates the spirit of a now-endangered species by opening the door to the epicenter of New Orleans culture and inviting John Magnie and all the rest of us to join the second line. It’s impossible not to dance to, laughing and crying at the same time, just like a jazz funeral. And it’s hard to imagine a more perfect evacuee love song than “Next to Me,” in which Tommy Malone (whose own Mid-City house was flooded) tells his sweetheart in his sweetest baritone, “your home is right here next to me.” And though “Prayer of Love” was written for a friend suffering from a nasty romantic breakup, it makes a bracing post-K tonic, too: “In this troubled, soul-searching time/Have faith, my sister/I’m sure you’re gonna find the child inside.”

The ’dudes don’t have to dig too deep for that kid themselves; when they’re not wearing their hearts on their sleeves they’re making funny faces. A goofy spirit bubbles up in everything from the “nah nah nah nah nah” chorus of the island-inflected “Papa Dukie & the Mud People” to “Let’s Play,” an audience-participation romp partially scored on toy instruments that’s sure to be a huge crowd-pleaser at Jazz Fest. Another classic Jazz Fest moment-in-the-making: Rosie Ledet’s sassy girl-boy duo with Tommy Malone on “Looking at You,” which will be reprised live at the fairgrounds if there’s any justice in a post-K world.

The subdudes CD release party will be at Southport Hall, January 20 and 21.