Shaggy will contribute a trio of songs to the soundtrack to Showtime, due on March 19th on his Big Yard label . . . Garth Brooks will headline a concert to benefit the Nashville Songwriters Association International next month. The concert, also featuring Wynonna, Keith Urban and Trisha Yearwood, will be aired on Turner South on March 16th . . . The Magnetic Fields have signed a multi-album deal with Nonesuch; frontman Stepin Merritt will continue to record for Merge Records, which released the band's first four records . . . Branford Marsalis has started a new label, Marsalis Music; he'll release his next album, Footsteps of Our Fathers, on the label later this year . . .

Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr. teamed up for a performance that will air on Country Music Television's Crossroads on February 17th . . . The Supersuckers will release a new live album, Must've Been Live on March 12th; the group will kick off a twenty-five-date tour on February 14th in Park City, Utah . . . Angelique Kidjo will release her new album, Black Ivory Soul, on Columbia on March 19th . . . Peter Frampton has signed with Pioneer Entertainment. The veteran rocker is writing songs for a new album he expects to release this summer . . . Usher will kick off the forty-four-date Evolution Tour on April 25th in Denver; the tour was to begin last year, but was delayed after he injured his shoulder on stage . . .

Alanis Morissette performed at the Whiskey in Los Angeles for the first time last week, for a Web cast that will launch MSN Music's All Access Concert Series on February 18th . . . The Rolling Stones, Sting, Elvis Costello and Joni Mitchell are among the artists who appear on The Wide World Over, a new Chieftans compilation; the album also features three new tracks including a cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" with ZIGGY MARLEY and "Morning Has Broken" with Diana Krall and Art Garfunkel . . . Meat Loaf will release a two-CD edition of his 1993 album, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, on March 19th; the set will include three versions of his hit "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" . . . Prince has set up the first six dates of a tour behind The Rainbow Children, which will kick off on March 1st in Saginaw, Michigan . . .

'N Sync's Chris Kirkpatrick debuted his new clothing line, FuMan Skeeto, on February 11th in New York City as part of the Big Apple's Fashion Week . . . Jade Tree Records will release Location Is Everything Vol. 1 a compilation disc of the label's roster to include unreleased tracks from Jets to Brazil, the Promise Ring, Pedro the Lion, Milemarker, Girls Against Boys and others. The disc is due April 16th . . . Neil Diamond's sixty-seven MCA recordings made between 1968 and 1972 will be compiled on Play Me, a three-CD set due on March 26th . . . Travis Tritt will celebrate his tenth anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry with a performance at the Ryman Auditorium on February 16th . . . Moby will host a new series on MTV, Senor Moby's House of Music, featuring videos handpicked by Moby himself. The show debuts February 23rd . . .

Eminem, Staind, N.W.A., DMX and others will contribute songs to Live and Unreleased From Farmclub.com, due February 26th . . . LeAnn Womack has entered the studio with producers Matt Serletic (Matchbox Twenty), Mark Wright and Frank Liddell to work on Something Worth Leaving Behind, her fourth album, and the follow-up to her triple platinum smash, I Hope You Dance, due later this year . . . A link to a preview of the Queen of the Damned soundtrack, featuring new music by Korn's Jonathan Davis, has been posted on www.korn.com . . . Blur frontman Damon Albarn plans to launch Honest Jon's, a new label through which he will release an album of his collaborations with several African musicians . . .

R.E.M., the Roots, Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson and Live have joined the Save Our Environment coalition, which is working to build opposition to a proposed national energy policy being considered by the U.S. Senate . . . Living Colour singer Corey Glover and songwriter Michael Cirincione filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against TLC on February 1st, claiming that a portion of the group's hit, "Unpretty," was taken from a song they had written . . . Craig David earned his first platinum certification, for Born to Do It, last week . . . Clem Snide will kick off a tour tomorrow night in Boston, wrapping up on April 10th in Champaign, Illinois; the band will release an EP, Moment in the Sun, on March 5th . . . David Bowie has been tapped as the artistic director for the Meltdown 2002 festival, which will run June 14-30 in London . . .

Sting's 2002 Rainforest Benefit Concert will take place at New York City's Carnegie Hall on April 13th; no guests have yet been announced . . . Phil Lesh and Friends will headline the Gathering of the Vibes Festival, which is set for July 4-7 near Albany, New York; Gov't Mule, Soulive and Les Claypool will also perform . . . Bruce Springsteen has donated an autographed Fender Telecaster to the Kristen Ann Carr Fund's ninth annual Winter Semi-Formal and auction, on February 23rd in New York City; proceeds will benefit the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center . . . PJ Harvey won the the 2002 South Bank Show Award for Best Pop Musician in London last week . . . Travis will release a new DVD, More Than Us, on March 19th . . .

Phish keyboardist Page McConnell's new band, Vida Blue, will begin a nine-date East Coast tour on April 18th; the group will release their debut album in the summer . . . Brooks and Dunn will take Dwight Yoakam, Gary Allan and others out on their Neon Circus and Wild West Show 2002, which will begin April 12th in Minneapolis . . . Cracker will begin a thirty-five-date tour behind Forever on March 8th in New York City . . . Puddle of Mudd will launch their first headlining tour March 13th in South Padre Island, Texas . . . Alicia Keys received four Soul Train Award nominations to lead all acts. The sixteenth annual awards show is set for March 20th in New York . . . Lil' Bow Wow has enlisted NBA hoopsters Jason Kidd, Karl Malone and Kevin Garnett to appear in his feature film debut, Like Mike, which is due in theaters this summer . . .

(February 14, 2002)