Money Raised From Mixtape Featuring Boston Bands Going Towards City’s ‘One Fund’

Billy Dodge Moody is featured on the mixtape. Photo via Billy Dodge Moody

Like most everyone else in Boston, bands from around the city came together to show their support for the victims and families of the Boston Marathon bombing. But rather than make posters, T-shirts, or hold vigils, they did it in the best way they knew how—through their music.

Headed by the popular music blog Allston Pudding, more than 130 groups submitted original songs to be part of a “relief mixtape” that was compiled and is now available for download online. All proceeds from the mixtape, which starts at $1 on the Allston Pudding website, will benefit The One Fund Boston, which was created just days after Monday’s tragedy by Mayor Tom Menino and Governor Deval Patrick, with an aim of acting as a central fund to “assist the individuals affected by the tragic attacks of the Boston Marathon.”

As of Wednesday, the One Fund had raised $7 million from corporate partners and 8,500 individual donors. Donations from major corporations, people in Boston, and efforts like Allston Pudding’s continue to come in.

“I was trying to figure out ideas on how the Boston music community would be able to help, so on Tuesday we put out a call for song donations on our Facebook page and within minutes, my entire inbox was flooded with musicians and bands ready and eager to help,” says Perry Eaton, cofounder and editor of AllstonPudding.com. “The big thing was managing it all and making sure we got as many people on there as possible. It was a show of overwhelming support from Boston musicians and the music scene.”

In the first hour after the mixtape was released, it raised more than $1,000. “To be honest, I’m not really surprised by it because I know how strong and supportive Boston—and the music scene—is,” Eaton says. “But I’m definitely overwhelmed by how much support there has been.” Eaton says a lot of bands gave songs that were particularly relevant to the situation, while other tried to donate tracks previously unreleased.

South Boston musician Billy Dodge Moody, who plays acoustic guitar, is one of the featured artists on the download. Moody says he is “honored” to be part of the compilation so he can show his support for the city he lives and performs in. “It means a lot to me. [I’m glad I could] contribute and help out especially with a tragedy that hit so close to home. All of this is just overwhelming and it’s hard not to get emotional,” he says.

When Moody heard about the call for submissions, he sent in a song called “Reach” that he recorded during the summer. “[It’s] a song that I recorded…and I never really knew what I wanted to do with it. I think it has a lot of heart in it lyrically, and thematically, going off on the idea of strength, and I felt it was appropriate for the cause.”

To hear Moody’s song, and to download the mixtape and give to the cause, visit AllstonPudding.com. Donations can also be made directly to the city’s One Fund at OneFundBoston.org.