Steve Gleason Turns Resilience Into Music With 12-Song REBIRTH Project
Twenty years after Steve Gleason delivered the blocked punt that became a symbol of New Orleans’ comeback, the Saints legend is telling a new story through music.
Gleason has announced REBIRTH, a 12-song cycle created with an extensive cast of New Orleans musicians. The project began its episodic rollout October 1 through Ineffable Joy Records, an independent New Orleans label founded by Gleason, Stephen Rehage and Jim Salters. Its first two songs are available now.
“Soul Is Invincible” features Louisiana soul-rock powerhouse Marc Broussard, while “Sonic Boom” features Trombone Shorty. The larger project also includes Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, PJ Morton, Ivan Neville, Anders Osborne, Tony Hall of Dumpstaphunk, Ben Schneider of Lord Huron, River Eckert and other musicians with deep New Orleans connections.
Gleason co-wrote the material during six months of songwriting sessions. The songs explore loss, love, fatherhood, isolation, physical change and the challenge of building a different future when returning to the past is impossible.
“Music is one of the ways I access parts of myself that ALS cannot touch,” Gleason said.
Diagnosed with ALS in 2011, Gleason can no longer speak with his natural voice, sing or play guitar. That has not silenced his need to create. Working alongside his collaborators, he remained at the center of the writing process, sometimes drawing from poems he had previously written.
Gleason and producers Rehage and Salters recorded the project at Esplanade Studios in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood. The official REBIRTH website will accompany the music with videos, interviews, demos, alternate recordings, photographs and additional material as the remaining chapters arrive.
The title carries enormous meaning for Saints fans.
On September 25, 2006, the Saints returned to the Superdome for the first time following Hurricane Katrina. Just 90 seconds into the game against Atlanta, Gleason blocked a Falcons punt that Curtis Deloatch recovered for a touchdown. The play helped ignite a 23–3 Saints victory and became an enduring symbol of a city fighting its way back.
That moment is now immortalized by the Rebirth statue outside the Superdome. Two decades later, Gleason is using the same word to describe another kind of transformation—one shaped by creativity, community and the refusal to disappear.
The music will reach the stage Monday, October 5, before the Saints host the Falcons on Monday Night Football. A second line will travel from Lafayette Square to Champions Square, where Marc Broussard and his band will open a special REBIRTH concert. Gleason and his guests are scheduled to present the first live performances of “Soul Is Invincible” and “Sonic Boom.”
Inside the Caesars Superdome, Gleason and Deloatch will be honored as Legends of the Game. Gleason is also scheduled to participate in the coin toss and lead the “Who Dat” chant. The Saints’ anniversary celebration begins in Champions Square at 4 p.m. Central, with kickoff scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
REBIRTH is not simply a record about football or illness. It is a New Orleans story about what remains when everything familiar changes—and how music can give that surviving spirit somewhere to live.
Listen and learn more: Official REBIRTH song-cycle website
Support the mission: Team Gleason
Saints celebration details:
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