Pop Greats to Celebrate 3 Pillars of American Music

More than a dozen of pop’s most distinguished artists--from Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and U2 to Los Lobos and Tom Waits--are teaming up on record to honor three giants of American music.

No one with a knowledge of pop history will be surprised that two of the songwriters honored on what promises to be one of the year’s most celebrated albums are Dust Bowl balladeer Woody Guthrie and folk-blues pioneer Leadbelly.

Both were passionate chroniclers of America’s underdogs--artists whose influence can be felt today in the work of innumerable contemporary artists, including Springsteen and U2.

But the third honoree may come as a surprise: Walt Disney.

Though lionized for his film and animation legacy (as well as the amusement parks), Disney, through his films, also played a role in introducing some of the 20th Century’s most beloved music.

“This music . . . had a very big effect on all of us--anyone growing up in the last 40 years,” said Hal Willner, the New York-based producer who conceived and supervised “Stay Awake,” a collection of Disney-related songs interpreted by a wide array of pop, rock and jazz artists--including Los Lobos, Tom Waits, Ringo Starr and Suzanne Vega--that will be released by A & M Records in early October.

The same point--music that affected generations of Americans--applies to Guthrie and Leadbelly, whose songs will be featured on “Folkways: A Vision Shared,” an album due in stores Tuesday. Among the artists who’ll perform their songs: Dylan, Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Emmylou Harris and Brian Wilson.

“I don’t look at this album as nostalgia,” said Joe McEwen, Columbia Records artists and repertoire director and executive producer of the Guthrie/Leadbelly LP. “Music is a lot more diverse now than it’s ever been. But this type of music . . . will always have a place in American pop music because it’s real, it has a passion of people’s feelings, and that’s never overwhelmed by musical technocracy.”

Aesthetically, the Disney and Guthrie/Leadbelly collections shape up as works as contrasting as the figures they honor.

“Stay Awake” will be a series of colorful fantasies ranging from sweet (Ringo Starr and Herb Alpert teaming up on vocal and trumpet, respectively, on “When You Wish Upon a Star”) to the ironic, yet strangely appropriate (rage-filled Irish singer Sinead O’Connor doing the dreamy “Someday My Prince Will Come”).

Other numbers include “Heigh Ho” by gravel-voiced Waits, a mournful rendition of the “Mickey Mouse Club” theme by New Orleans vocalist Aaron Neville, “I Wanna Be Like You” (from “Jungle Book”) by Los Lobos, “Pink Elephants on Parade” (from “Dumbo”) by Sun Ra and “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Da” (from “Song of the South”) by Harry Nilsson.

The darker side of the Disney fantasy is represented by a medley of tunes under the title “All Innocent Children Had Better Beware,” which includes a version of villainess Cruella De Vil’s theme from “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” done by rock bad boys the Replacements.

“I had forgotten about a lot of this music,” Willner said, retelling how he got the idea for the album when he rediscovered an anthology of Disney film music in his record collection. “I hadn’t seen some of those films since I was a kid. It was wonderful--there are some really evil tunes in there, as well as the beautiful ones.”

The Guthrie/Leadbelly set is in grainy black and white, with the artist mostly employing acoustic folk-type arrangements. Highlights include U2’s rowdy version of Guthrie’s “Jesus Christ,” Little Richard rambunctious rendition of Leadbelly’s “Rock Island Line” and Brian Wilson’s engaging version of Leadbelly’s “Goodnight Irene.”

Guthrie is also represented by Springsteen (“I Ain’t Got No Home” and “Vigilante Man), Dylan (“Pretty Boy Floyd”), Mellencamp (“Do Re Mi”), son Arlo Guthrie (“East Texas Red”) Willie Nelson (“Philadelphia Lawyer”), Harris (“Hobo’s Lullaby”) and a Pete Seeger-led hootenanny on “This Land Is Your Land.”

Songs associated with Leadbelly--the 12-string guitar master and blues singer whose real name was Huddie Ledbetter--are done by Taj Mahal (the socially biting “Bourgeois Blues”) and Sweet Honey in the Rock (“Gray Goose”), as well as Little Richard and Wilson.

A companion television special, “An All-Star Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly,” featuring interviews with most of the album’s artists, will be debut at 10 p.m. Sept. 17 on Showtime, with a Public Broadcasting Service airing planned for a later date.

The project sprang from a discussion between Dylan and the Smithsonian Institution after that organization purchased the archives of Folkways records, which made historic early recordings of both Guthrie and Leadbelly. Artist royalties will be donated to the Smithsonian, McEwen said.

The influence of Guthrie and Leadbelly may seem further removed from everyday life than that of Disney. But McEwen believes that it is just as strong and ever-present.

“I think Bruce Springsteen, for example, or U2 or John Mellencamp sing songs that try to speak for the common man,” McEwen said by phone from his New York office. “Woody’s and Leadbelly’s songs are about the experiences people have, real experiences. They’re soul songs of a type. I don’t think that’s ever changed. That’s run through certain types of popular music derived from the tradition of the American troubadour.”