Playing For Change at SXSW

The 2011 festival appearance kicks off their newest project Playing For Change - Songs Around The World Part 2, out on Hear Music/Concord Music Group and available at all Starbucks retail locations nationwide on May 31.

Playing For Change made their US performance debut at SXSW in 2009. The project gained the public's awareness when their version of the song "Stand By Me" accumulated over 30 million views on YouTube.

Founder Mark Johnson and his team mixed the performances of 18 street musicians, a South African Choir and a Native American drum group into a clip that went viral on the Internet after Johnson appeared on PBS' Bill Moyers' Journal.

"Stand by Me" laid the foundation for the CD/DVD set Playing For Change: Songs Around The World, which debuted at #10 on Billboard's Pop Chart in April of 2009.