Damien Rice, Dermot Kennedy, The National and more team up on Songs for Australia charity album

Damien Rice, The National, Dermot Kennedy, Kurt Vile and more have teamed up on the Julia Stone-led project Songs for Australia, a covers album with proceeds going to fighting the Australian bushfire crisis. The record will be released on streaming services March 5 and the vinyl and CD editions will be released in June, currently available for pre-order/

The inspiration for the album came from a cover Stone did of Midnight Oil's 'Beds Are Burning', according to an Instagram post. She wrote: "The video/song I posted earlier of ‘Beds Are Burning’ got me started… inspired I reached out to artists I had a connection with. I thought we could do more, with more of us. I asked if they would cover an Australian song for an album that would raise money for the bushfire crisis. The response was immediate and immense."

Songs for Australia will include a cover of Sia's 'Chandelier' by Damien Rice, Matt Corby's 'Resolution' performed by Dermot Kennedy, Nick Cave's 'Stranger than Kindness' by Kurt Vile, INXS's 'Never Tear Us Apart' by The National and more.

Proceeds from the record will go to Firesticks, Landcare Australia, SEED, Emergency Leaders for Climate Action, WildArk and the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

Songs for Australia is part of a massive movement of celebrities raising money for or donating to Australian charities after the continent was ravaged by some of the worst bushfires in memory, beginning last July. An estimated one billion animals have been killed in the fires. Since then, the likes of Nick Cave, Elton John, Metallica, Kacey Musgraves, Mac Demarco and even the Wiggles have offered support to firefighting and wildlife conversation

Read Hot Press' interviews with Damien Rice, Dermot Kennedy and The National.

Listen to Julia Stone's cover of 'Beds are Burning' below.