From reggae to bluegrass and rap, musicians are sounding off for the Obama cause.

While Wailers guitarist Al Anderson insists that the legendary reggae outfit he plays in is an “anti-political band,” he clearly has opinions about the candidates for president.

The Wailers– who will be making a rare local appearance as part of the nine-hour BaRock the Peninsula! concert at the Monterey Fairgrounds this Saturday aimed at rallying folks around the cause– are throwing their support behind Obama.

“He has more humility towards people, because he has more heart for people than McCain does,” says Anderson, who was part of the group that backed reggae icon Bob Marley before his death in 1981. “So we are supporting him because he has heart and soul.”

He adds that the Wailers– whose members hail from the United States, Africa, Jamaica and England– believe that their values and those of their fans would not be represented in a McCain White House.

“We all know that the opposing party is not for colored, international people,” he adds, echoing Kanye West’s televised comment after Hurricane Katrina that George W. Bush “doesn’t care about black people.’’

Though the Wailers are playing a show that will donate proceeds to the Democratic National Party, the band has not written any specifically pro-Obama songs, like those by rappers Ludacris or Nas.

“What he’s saying to the people, we are going to let him say it,” Anderson states. “We are going to back him up by reaching the people with music.”

The other headliner on the bill, Grammy-winning bluegrass artist Laurie Lewis, who will perform with mandolin player Tom Rozum, sounds a similiar note.

“I have not written any specific Barack Obama songs,” she says, “but we have songs that I think address the state of the economy and the hope for better times.”

Rushad Eggleston, a Grammy-nominated cellist who will be performing with his eclectic rock trio Tornado Rider, also hasn’t sat down and written an Obama song, though he thinks his uplifting original tune, “I’m a Falcon,” would work for the candidate. “When we play that, I’ll be like ‘Dude, Barack Obama is a f***** falcon,’” says the Monterey County native.

One artist playing the concert who has written a song that mentions Obama is Seaside-raised rapper Alex Lee.

“They used to us call monkeys/ But we eatin’ no bananas/ We’ll see what they say/ When we vote in Barack Obama,” she writes in “Oh, My God.’’

Lee, who now lives in the Bay Area, says that though she wouldn’t expect Obama to “pull any miracles” if elected, she believes just having a black man in the White House would be a huge change.

“To have a different face on America would be way cool,” she says.

Another musician on the bill who’s written a song for the political season is Forrest Day, who fronts the Bay Area funk outfit of the same name. Day has been inspired to write songs that express his opposition to Proposition 8, the controversial California initiative that would eliminate the rights of same-sex couples to marry.

One he has not yet recorded is provocatively titled “Prop Hate,” while another, “Troubled,” includes the rhyme: “If you are dumb enough to persecute a person because they are gay/ You might as well put on a sheet and join the KKK.”

While it has a clearly political agenda, the all-day concert is also being billed as an “election anxiety release party.”

“I think everyone– Republican or Democrat– has been on a roller coaster this election,” says Christine Sandin, BaRock the Peninsula!’s director and event manager.

Meanwhile, some of the musicians playing at the BaRock the Peninsula! show admit to varying levels of stress as the impending election approaches. But Eggleston and Lee both say that they’re not wracked with anxiety. “To me, the upcoming election is not stressful,” Lee says. “I’m not Barack. I’m not McCain.”

But Lewis and Day see the show as a way to defuse pre-election jitters.

“I do have stress leading up to the election,” Day says. “I’m going to relieve it by rocking a phat crowd.”

Even though Anderson warns that “with this government, with the CIA, anything can happen,” the Wailers veteran is optimistic that the upcoming election will mark a significant change.

“We look forward to a new future in this America to make this a better country without all the right-wing craziness, murder and deception,” he says.

Eggleston puts his faith in Obama more poetically.

“I feel like he’s a white Pegasus that I could ride firmly on the back of. But I do know he’s black!”

The BaRock the Peninsula! concert will take place noon to 9pm Saturday, Nov. 1, at the Monterey Fairgrounds, 2004 Fairgrounds Road, Monterey. $25. 899-1005, http://monterey.inticketing.com In addition to the previously mentioned acts, the concert will include local singer/songwriters John Michael, Sarah McCoy, Andrew Heringer, Chelsea Williams and Ryan Bisio in the Turf Club and speeches by local politicians, including Congressman Sam Farr and Democratic Assembly candidate Bill Monning, on the Garden Stage.