Troy Andrews, a young performer known as "Trombone Shorty," secured U2 guitarist The Edge's love of New Orleans.

"On one of our band's first tours of the United States, (U2 lead sing-er) Bono and myself ended up in some small little club in New Orleans," he said.

"At that club, Bono and I watched a band with a young trombone player called Trombone Shorty, and he was all of 12 1/2 years old. It was a truly mind-blowing experience to see this unbelievably hip, powerful music going on that no one knew about other than the people of that area. It was stumbling onto some kind of hidden treasure."

The Edge, born David Evans in Ireland, whose sweeping electric guitar work revolutionized modern rock 'n' roll and helped define the sound of one of the world's most popular and important rock bands, is now helping in relief efforts for New Orleans, a city whose musical treasures lay in ruin thanks to a faulty levy system and a hurricane called Katrina.

The U2 guitarist is working in conjunction with Nashville-based Gibson Guitar, producer Bob Ezrin and the Guitar Center Music Education Foundation to lead Music Rising, a fundraising drive intended to get instruments and musical equipment back in the hands of Gulf Coast musicians who need them.

"Some would say it's a luxury to think about music when so many people have lost the roof over their heads," Edge said, by telephone from Hawai'i. U2 is set to play an April 8 concert at Aloha Stadium. "But the purpose is to bring life, work and people back in that city. Music is a wonderful way of inspiring confidence in the belief that it's starting to grow back. Music is a catalyst."

The fundraising effort is multifold. The nonprofit MusiCares organization (part of the Recording Academy, which also puts on the Grammy Awards each year) is handling the musicians' application and qualification process, and qualified musicians are receiving instruments through Guitar Center's musiciansfriend.com site. Patrons are able to donate through the musicrising.org Web site, and Gibson is selling Music Rising guitars, each individually painted and handmade.

For more about the fund-raising drive, see www.musicrising.org.