Paul Sanchez

Singer/songwriter Susan Cowsill points toward a clutch of people sitting and chatting in a backyard in New Orleans' Marigny neighborhood.

"See that woman? The one with the flowers in her hair, waving a fan?" she asks. "She's my record company executive."

Cowsill could have pointed at any one of the 250 or so people in attendance at the annual Threadheads Patry (yes patry, playing off the local patois) in late April. The gathering took place in between weekends of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell and convened people nationwide who connected due to their love for Crescent City culture via Internet chat boards operated by the festival itself. They participate in various discussion "threads," hence the name, and are partners in Threadhead Records — a uniquely fan-financed label that in a year and a half has released seven CDs by local acts, with more coming soon.

The eclectic Threadhead roster features Continental Drifters alumnus Cowsill, jazz/pop/gospel singer John Boutté, singer/songwriters Paul Sanchez and Alex McMurray, genre-crossing trumpeter Shamarr Allen, jazz trombonist/vocalist Glen David Andrews, progressive brass band the New Orleans Nightcrawlers, trombonist Rick Trolsen, and bluesrocker Marc Stone. The company also recently published its first book, Pieces Of Me, collecting Sanchez's cathartically heart-wrenching, touching and funny blog entries about his rough yet rewarding journey back from the post-Hurricane Katrina trauma of losing his home and community.

And with performances by Boutté and Sanchez, marking the recent release of their new duo album, Stew Called New Orleans; the Continental Drifters, in their first performance together in nearly seven years; and Allen, who knocked everyone over with a grunge-funk trumpet version of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," among others; this patry was something of a Threadhead Records annual board meeting. There also was crawfish, jambalaya, fund-raising activities for various Threadhead charities — all fitting nicely with the Threadhead Records slogan: "Rebuilding New Orleans One Song At A Time."

"People saw we were in peril," says Boutté. "[We] don't have money to fix homes and roads here, let alone the music, which is a big part of this city. I've got a degree in economics and I know that one little push is what it takes. So this became a little stimulus package."

It was at the Threadhead Patry two years ago that the effort started spontaneously. Boutté — a seventh-generation New Orleanian with a voice like an angelic Sam Cooke — and Sanchez — born and raised in the city's Irish Channel neighborhood —performed a set together. As was the case with most everyone in town, times were tough both emotionally and financially in the slow recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

"This guy Chris came up to me after the performance and said, 'You guys need to make a record,'" says Sanchez. "I said, 'Right. I can barely pay my rent.' He said, 'How much would it take?' Being depressed and despondent I named a figure. A week later he e-mailed and said, 'I have it. Where should I send it?'"

Chris is Chris Joseph from Santa Monica, Calif., a loyal Threadhead with no music business experience beyond his enthusiasm. He'd put out word on an Internet chat group that the duo could use some help making a record. And in it came — $10 here, $50 there, a handful of three-figure amounts, soon totaling Sanchez's figure: $12,000. Not much by record company standards, but quite a sum considering the method.

Ultimately this went to paying for Boutté's album and part of Sanchez's Exit To Mystery Street. The plan was that as the money was recouped it would be redistributed to the Threadheads, with 10 percent interest added on top to go to the New Orleans Musicians Clinic, a clinic providing health and social welfare services for the local music community. But repayment is not the point.

"We just want to give back for what we get," says patry attendee John Mays, a retired information technology projects manager from Syracuse, N.Y. "New Orleans already gives us everything we need."

In some ways the label model resembles such recent fan-funded efforts as Jill Sobule'sCalifornia Years, a project funded via a Web-based donation campaign, and ArtistShare, another Web-based funding label endeavor and home to two-time GRAMMY-winning jazz composer Maria Schneider.

"What it meant for me is I didn't have to go to a bank — a record company," says Boutté. "They looked at me, they didn't ask for anything. It's a gentlemen's agreement, which you don't come by anymore. They did their part and I did mine."

The story is similar for Cowsill, who will soon release a new solo album and reissue her 2005 debut Just Believe It, whose initial release got washed away by Katrina.

"I had no motivation," she says. "The Threadheads provided me motivation. Now I have no excuses. They do things that change the course for people who were frozen in time. It's just for the love of each other and music and our city. And it's gotten a lot of us back in the world."

The community spirit infuses the label at all levels, with the artists encouraged to collaborate as writers, producers and musicians. For Allen, that means access to mentors, a built-in support system to help guide him through life as a rising star on the New Orleans scene — he calls Sanchez "Uncle Paul" — as well as artistic freedom.

"The Threadheads came to me and said they wanted to put out a record," says the trumpeter, who will be touring as a member of Willie Nelson's band this summer. "But even before that I already felt like part of the family."

Joseph, who functions as the record label's head Thread, is looking into obtaining 501(c)(3) status to make the venture truly not-for-profit. And a committee has just been empowered to evaluate project proposals from artists before submitting them to the at-large Threadheads for funding. But things remain casual.

"Let me show you this," Joseph says, reaching into a satchel and pulling out three folded checks. "When John and Paul got here they handed me this."

He holds up one check, the receipt of which officially made Good Neighbor the first Threadhead Record release to be paid back in full, with 2,000 copies sold. The second check was from Boutté for $600 — half the interest amount — to the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

Finally, there was check No. 3. "I just got called over by a group of Chicago Threadheads I'd never met before," Joseph says. "I did an interview for a Chicago radio show recently and they heard it and said, 'We love what you're doing.' And then they handed me a check for $250."

Patry on.

(Steve Hochman writes the Around The World music column for AOL's Spinner.com and is the pop music critic for KQED Radio's "The California Report Magazine." He has covered the music world for 25 years for the Los Angeles Times and many other publications.)