Local radio show Musicians, Mentors and Barroom Heroes announced it is releasing a compilation album featuring New Orleans songwriters on Sunday, November 4, 2018.

The show, hosted by Laura DeFazio on WHIV 102.3 FM New Orleans since 2016, serves as a platform to promote original songwriters and document storytellers gravitating around New Orleans bars and cafes. More than 150 people have been featured on the show, close to a hundred of them have contributed live music.

“[The show] was always a good mix of regulars and newcomers, musicians of all levels, bartenders, whatever completely miscellaneous weirdos showed up on the stoop,” DeFazio said. “It was really important to me to cultivate an inclusive atmosphere, because I’m so grateful to have been so included when I moved here. That’s one of my favorite things about New Orleans, or at least the parts of it that I got to know. All you really have to do to is show up, and participate, and be conscientious of the people around you, and people will welcome you with open arms.”

The double-album captures the essence of the show, with 60 tracks comporting music as well as interviews and conversation. Among those featured are Ted Hefko, Jim Smith, Shawn Williams, Jean Bayou, Richard Egner, Daniel-Joey Oakley, Carolyn Broussard, Rose Cangelosi, Ghalia Vauthier, Natasha Sanchez

“It’s meant as a time capsule more than anything, a way to document a weird little slice of local life,” DeFazio says. “In between songs we talk about the neighborhood bars we love, bar stories from days of yore, local characters we know and love… A lot of strange antics and traditions developed on-air; [Mike] Darby’s cooking projects, Stacey Bridewell’s vintage hair stylings, everything that came out of Pizza Mike’s mouth…”

All proceeds from the CD sales will go toward the non-profit community station devoted to human rights and social justice, as well as the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic.

A release party will be held at Checkpoint Charlie’s on Sunday, November 4, 2018. Expect musicians and friends of the show to perform and hang, starting at 4 p.m.