Country Joins All-Genre Events

As was predicted, country music artists will be a part of the re-recording of “We Are The World” for its 25th anniversary. Zac Brown, Julianne Hough and Sugarland were among the 81 artists from a wide range of musical genres contributing to Monday's recording session. Sales of the recording will benefit earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. The song is an updated version of the 1985 recording of "We Are the World" written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. During a press conference prior to the recording session in Los Angeles, Quincy Jones, who produced the original record, said he and Richie had resisted calling attention to the 25th anniversary of the all-star recording but changed his mind when the magnitude 7 earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 12. "We got a text message saying, 'Coincidence is God's way of staying anonymous,'" Jones said. Others participating in the session included Miley Cyrus, Jeff Bridges Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Celine Dion, the Jonas Brothers, Pink, Brian Wilson, Jamie Foxx, Carlos Santana, T-Pain, Jason Mraz, Gladys Knight, Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J and Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. And if you’re wondering why Taylor Swift is not on the list, she had a previous engagement in Australia that she had to fly to immediately after the Grammy awards.

Speaking of all-genre projects, mark your calendars for October 10th, 2010. A very special live musical event will take place, highlighting the top artists of the decade as selected by the viewers of MTV, Vh1 and CMT. For the first time ever, these powerful music brands will come together to celebrate the decade in music on one big night, across all three networks. Further details will be announced in the future.