The post-Katrina record has become its own genre by now, but what of the post-Katrina party record? Not as crowded a field, but Walter “Wolfman” Washington pretty much owns it with this disc, which folds some upbeat recovery sentiments between tunes about the continued importance of shaking one’s booty.

If his Katrina songs are about fixing what’s broke, the rest of the album is about not fixing what ain’t. Washington knows a lot about working a crowd, which is evident even on a studio record. This one opens and closes with long groove workouts, and when he’s not doing the funky thing he does the soul thing, the blues thing and the swing thing.

An eight-year recording break hasn’t added any new wrinkles to Washington’s sound—fair enough, he was plenty eclectic already—but it has given him time to work up a strong batch of material. The blues ballad “One Day from Being a Fool” is the sort of thing that would fit well on a latter-day B.B. King album. And though it’s ostensibly about a jailbreak, “Landslide” has enough lines about working together and “crossing the great divide” to suggest he’s getting a jump on songs for the next election.

One thing you won’t hear is a whole lot of Washington’s guitar solos; he’s moving to the James Brown school of funk where everyone works as a unit. Not until the closing “Funky Stuff, Part 2” does he allow himself two solo breaks The two Katrina songs are suitably uplifting, with “Crescent City Light” using a gospel choir and a “Hey Pocky Way’ drumbeat to make its point. These tunes also serve as a reminder that a solid New Orleans groove album isn’t something to take for granted. And his delivering one is good reason to clap for the Wolfman.