Elvis Costello and legendary musician Allen Toussaint release their eagerly anticipated LP ‘The River In Reverse’ on Verve Records, May 29th. Recorded at Piety Street Studios between November and December 2005, the album represents the first major sessions to take place in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina in August.“This was a chance to make something positive out of something dispiriting,” says Elvis Costello who co-wrote seven of the seventeen tracks. “It’s also forward-looking. It’s representative of the culture here, and Allen is one of the most important people in that culture.”Produced by Elvis, Allen Toussaint and Joe Henry, whose previous work includes Aimee Mann, Solomon Burke and co-writing Madonna’s singles ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and ‘Sorry’, the album is both compelling and inspiring, boasting 17 tracks that were recorded and mixed by Husky Hoskulds, of Norah Jones and Turin Brakes fame.It also features Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher of The Imposters on piano, drums and bass respectively. A mutual reaction to the devastation of a city they both love, it was clearly a project of personal and professional magnitude. “This is not a sympathy record,” urges Allen Toussaint. “These songs can live in war and peace, anytime, anywhere. This recording is far more important, and bigger, than Katrina.” Highlights include the reinvigorated Toussaint tracks ‘Freedom For The Stallion’ and ‘On The Way Down’, the sobering ‘Who’s Gonna Help Brother Get Further?’ which he originally wrote and produced for Lee Dorsey in 1970 and Costello’s beautifully dark title track.