[UPDATED] Lenny Kravitz, Mos Def and Ani DiFranco are among the stars who’ll play “Gulf Aid” Sunday at Mardi Gras World River City on the banks of the Mississippi. Also on the bill are Allen Toussaint, the Voice of the Wetlands Allstars (feat. Tab Benoit, Dr. John, Cyril Neville, George Porter, Jr., Waylon Thibodeaux, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Sansone and Johnny Vidacovich), Zachary Richard, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Soul Rebels, Irvin Mayfield’s Playhouse Revue, Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers, Jeremy Davenport, Rebirth Brass Band, MyNameIsJohnMichael, and organizers hope to add more names.

The event was the brainchild of WWOZ’s David Freedman and pianist David Torkanowsky, who reached out to Rehage Productions’ Stephen Rehage. “I took a meeting with David Freedman and David Torkanowsky, which I’ll never do again,” he joked during a press conference Monday afternoon. With just over two months until the start of the Essence Music Festival, Rehage went to work on Gulf Aid.

New mayor Mitch Landrieu started the press conference at Mardi Gras World, explaining that Gulf Aid’s goal is “to draw attention to catastrophic disaster off our coast.” Tickets are $50 with proceeds going to the Gulf Relief Foundation, a non-profit that will help fishermen and families that are affected by the impact of the oil leak on their livelihoods, as well as efforts to help make America more aware of the national importance of Louisiana’s wetlands.

Sidney Torres IV, owner of SDT Waste and Debris,  said that Kravitz’s plane had landed in New Orleans shortly before the press began. “Lenny says the food is just as important as the music and the people,” he said.

Updated 5/12/10, 10:30 a.m.: The link to tickets at elevate.com has been inserted.