In an effort to help communities impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, some of today’s popular musicians released a benefit compilation album entitled Gasoline Rainbows. This CD was brought together by actress Sophia Bush and actor Austin Nichols with help from Global Green USA.

They are mostly known for their roles on the television show ‘One Tree Hill’ and they visited Louisiana to see the outcomes of  the oil spill shortly after the incident. They felt the urge to help.  “What does everyone love?” Austin Nichols said, “and then we came up with the answer of music.”

Gasoline Rainbows includes material by some popular names in music industry, alongside new up-and-coming talents. It has music by LCD Soundsystem, Passion Pit, Phoenix, Silversun Pickups, Vampire Weekend, The Black Keys, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, along with more.

Not only does the compilation feature well known artists with already produced music, but there are also brand new, previously unreleased tracks as well. Singer-songwriters Amy Kuney, Damien Rice and City and Colour provided never before heard material on this CD.

This album actually started with the help from Amy Kuney, one of the famous recording artists on the compilation. Kuney is good friends with Sophia Bush and one day she showed her the most recent song, “Gasoline Rainbows,” which is where the album name came from. Kuney talked to Bush and Nichols about her plan to put the song on iTunes and donate the proceeds toward helping aid in the restoration of the Gulf.

“Austin and I looked at each other and we thought, well, we’ve got a lot of friends in bands. What are we doing? Why are we thinking small? We could put an entire album together and hopefully raise a lot of money and also make people aware,” said Bush.

This kindness was not new for Bush because in 2006, the team behind One Tree Hill released the soundtrack compilation album called Friends With Benefit. All the proceeds went to research and awareness for cancer.

100% of the proceeds from sales on iTunes go directly to Global Green, which is an organization that helps to try to solve the world’s environmental challenges, from global climate change to disasters such as the BP Oil Spill. Global Green’s oil spill response is to directly assist the communities, people, educate the public and push for more regulation so these kinds of tragedies don’t happen again. This organization is not new to Bush because she got very involved with them with Hurricane Katrina rebuilding efforts.

The 14-track digital album was released on iTunes on Nov. 30. OHS senior Sam Stahlmann purchased the CD the day it was released. “It has really amazing artists on it and it’s great to see these talented people come together to help the ones in need,” Stahlmann stated.  Gasoline Rainbow never used plastic or paper to print the album, it’s only available on iTunes.  Not only is the artist line a great mix of tunes, but it’s giving back at the same time.