Twenty years after Steve Gleason delivered the punt block that became a symbol of New Orleans’ recovery from Hurricane Katrina, the former Saints safety is turning that story — and the life that followed — into song.
Gleason, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2011 at age 33, has announced REBIRTH, a 12-song project arriving episodically beginning today via Ineffable Joy Records. Co-written by Gleason during six months of intimate songwriting sessions, the project brings together an eclectic cast of musicians including Marc Broussard, Trombone Shorty, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, PJ Morton, Ivan Neville, Anders Osborne, River Eckert and Ben Schneider of Lord Huron. The first two songs, “Soul Is Invincible,” featuring Broussard, and “Sonic Boom,” featuring Trombone Shorty, are out now.
The project takes its title from one of the defining moments in New Orleans sports history. On Sept. 25, 2006, just 90 seconds into the Saints’ first game back at the Superdome following Katrina, Gleason blocked an Atlanta Falcons punt to set up a New Orleans touchdown. The play became known as “the Rebirth” and came to represent something much larger than football for a city rebuilding after the storm.
Two decades later, Gleason is revisiting that idea from a very different place. Since his ALS diagnosis, he has become a prominent advocate for people living with it and other neuromuscular diseases through Team Gleason, while chronicling his experience in the 2016 documentary Gleason and his 2024 memoir A Life Impossible.
REBIRTH isn’t designed as a victory lap. Instead, the song cycle explores what happens when the future you imagined disappears, what remains when the body changes and how people move forward when returning to the past is no longer an option. Gleason began the songwriting process in October 2025, working with collaborators in Slidell, La., and North Idaho, where he grew up. The sessions drew in part from poems he had written, with Gleason at the center of the writing and his wife, Michel, providing feedback on some of the project’s most personal material.
“Music is one of the ways I access parts of myself that ALS cannot touch,” Gleason says. “I can’t play guitar anymore, but the need to express myself has endured.” He adds, “Making this felt impossible. Which is generally where the good stuff begins.”
Gleason produced REBIRTH with Stephen Rehage and Jim Salters, with recording sessions taking place at Esplanade Studios in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood. The project also features members of E-Collective, Tony Hall of Dumpstaphunk, drummer Alvin Ford Jr., guitarist and producer Shane Theriot, pianist David Torkanowsky, guitarist Ari Teitel and keyboardist Brandon Coleman.
And this particular anniversary won’t be celebrated solely through recordings. On Oct. 5, when the Saints again host the Falcons on Monday Night Football, a second line procession will make its way from Lafayette Square to Champions Square ahead of a special REBIRTH concert. Broussard and his band will open the show before Gleason joins special guests for the first-ever live performances of songs from the project, including “Soul Is Invincible” and “Sonic Boom.” Gleason will then participate in the coin toss and lead the Superdome’s “Who Dat” chant before kickoff.
Fans can follow the episodic rollout at rebirthsongcycle.com, where the project will be accompanied by behind-the-song videos, interviews, alternate versions, demos, photos and other artifacts.
