The Beat

ALL TOGETHER NOW: Capitol Records is releasing United We Stand, a collection of songs stressing patriotism and solidarity, Nov. 6. All of Capitol's profits will be donated to the American Red Cross.

The compilation, which features such tracks as John Lennon's "Imagine," Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A.," Chris LeDoux's "I Believe in America," and the Beach Boys' "4th of July," was put together by EMI Music Distribution VP of marketing Tom Cartwright, senior director of A&R Cheryl Pawelski, and director of catalog marketing Herb Agner.

"Once we got back in the office after Sept. 11, Tom, Cheryl, and I were talking about what we could do that would be of benefit," Agner says, "and Cheryl came up with the idea of doing the record."

Most of the songs came from the EMI vault, with a few, such as Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," licensed from other sources.

"There were two things we were looking at, in terms of song selection: We wanted songs with the themes of togetherness and patriotism," Agner says. "We also wanted songs that were getting played a lot, such as 'God Bless the U.S.A.' "

The one new track on the CD, which carries a suggested list price of $11.98, is "Wouldn't Wanna Be You," by Robbin Thompson. The song, written in the aftermath of Sept. 11, will be worked to country and Americana stations by independent promoters.

While Agner knows the collection is competing with other charity offerings and a bounty of superstar releases, he says retailers have been very receptive to the project. "Out of the box, a number of key accounts have offered free positioning over the course of the next couple of months."

In other Greenwood news, the artist will record a new version of "God Bless the U.S.A." for inclusion on his new holiday album coming this fall on FreeFalls Entertainment.



MORE CHANGES: As expected, Nancy Berry has exited as vice chairman of Virgin Music Group. The move was announced yesterday by Alain Levy, the new CEO of Virgin parent EMI Recorded Music. Last week, Levy replaced Ken Berry—who is in the process of divorcing Nancy—as EMI chief (Billboard, Oct. 27).

Nancy Berry, who orchestrated marketing plans for many of Virgin's key artists, including Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey, had been at Virgin since 1979. An EMI spokesperson declined to comment on who would assume her duties.



NAMMY NIGHT: Robert Mirabal took top honors at the fourth annual Native American Music Awards Oct. 20 at the Sandia Casino Amphitheater in Albuquerque, N.M. The Taos Pueblo-native won songwriter, artist, and record of the year for Music From a Painted Cave. Mirabal wasn't on hand to accept the honors, but sent his mother to accept the artist of the year accolade, along with a taped acceptance speech featuring his entire band, Rare Tribal Mob. Mirabal's career has been fueled this year by a spring TV special for PBS that spawned the Silverwave Records release Music From a Painted Cave (Billboard, April 28). The Neville Brothers were presented with the living legend award. R. Carlos Nakai received the lifetime achievement award and was also named flutist of the year. Crystal Gayle was inducted into the hall of fame.

With the show hosted by actor Rodney Grant, Nammy Awards were presented in 33 categories. A partial list of winners includes: Indigenous, best blues/jazz recording for circle; Robert Tree Cody, best male artist; Annie Humphrey, best female artist and best folk/country artist; Walela, best duo/group; Joanne Shenandoah, best new-age recording for Peacemaker's Journey; Northern Cree, best powwow recording for Rockin' the Rez; and Keith Bear, best traditional recording for Earthlodge. The best compilation recording award went to Gathering of Nations Y2K Pow Wow.



BIG NIGHT: Alicia Keys, Bon Jovi, Craig David, LeAnn Rimes, Matchbox Twenty, Pete Yorn, Rufus Wainwright, and Sting are among the artists slated to perform at Elton John's The Concert: 20 Years With AIDS benefit slated for Dec. 12 at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles. Proceeds will go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation and AIDS Project L.A.



Assistance in preparing this column provided by Deborah Evans Price in Nashville.