OK Go Rock For New Orleans Musicians

(andPOP) - OK Go are going for a good cause -- helping local musicians in New Orleans get their lives back on track in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The indie rockers will team up with New Orleans funk/soul group Bonerama to play two benefit shows. The first happens this Friday at the Tipitiana's music venue in Uptown New Orleans and the second concert takes place Feb. 2 at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

OK Go and Bonerama also got together during the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina to record music at a studio in the city's Upper Ninth Ward.

The result of the collaboration is an exclusive iTunes EP that will benefit New Orleans R&B legend Al Johnson as well as Sweet Home New Orleans, an organization working to help thousands of local musicians get their lives back together after the storm.

The EP, "You're Not Alone," will be released Feb. 5 -- the same day as Mardi Gras 2008 -- and features three reworked songs from OK Go's 2005 album "Oh No."

It will also include covers of David Bowie's "Rock 'N' Roll Suicide" and Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," with the latter track featuring Johnson on contributing vocals.

"New Orleans is one of the last places in America where music is truly a fundamental part of everyday life," said OK Go's Damian Kulash in a statement.

"People get together on the weekends and parade through the streets just playing songs; 12-year-old-kids learn funk on the tuba; everyone actually dances. Life elsewhere in the world simply isn't as awesome.

"If we allow the culture of New Orleans to die by leaving its musicians marooned around the country, it will be a terrible blow to American music."