Time to hear the Gulf Sounds.

In April, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had a devastating effect on pelicans and turtles, Gulf fishermen and locals, in addition to what once was considered the pure water and plant life of the Gulf.

I've been waiting for the opportunity to combine my passion for music with an environmental cause and I had to seize this one. I decided to pick three organizations who are providing aid to the Gulf, to cover three categories: environment, community and wildlife. The organizations are the Environmental Defense Fund, the Greater New Orleans Foundation and the National Wildlife Federation. We gave attendees the freedom to choose which cause they wanted to help and the results were over $500 in support to divide to the organizations. There are four different musicians who graced the stage at the Blue Fugue Wednesday.

First in the lineup was Davis Dunavin, who sang some pretty funky folk rock with his acoustic guitar. He was supposed to play his accordion, unfortunately it was in the shop. He's got a pretty cool video up on his facebook page.

Next was Kyle McDonald, a good friend of mine who started an independent music project called Old Skin. I would recommend taking a look at some of his lyrics. Kid's got a lot of heart and as he stood bravely on stage with his acoustic screaming those words, no one could take their eyes off him.

The third act was the High Street Cousins, originally named the High Street Nephews, but whose name was changed by the only girl in the band who demanded the change. These guys were entertaining for sure. They opened the set with the theme song from Ghostbusters, which everyone found hilarious. Before that they did a horn intro because there was a sax and a trumpet on stage, which was pretty cool. Later on they covered some Alman Brothers, which didn't hurt their performance.

And last, the Nacho Brothers took stage. They focused on bluegrass and played a bunch of Dylan and the Meters, which was all I needed to finish off the night. They don't have a site, but they were featured on this blog.

Local music is a really important part of the Columbia community and I'm extremely grateful that these musicians helped the cause. We could not have done it without them! If you missed the concert, there's still a way to donate! Visit Sustain Mizzou's website for more information. For more of an update on the process behind Gulf Sounds, visit Sustain Mizzou's blog, Footprint.