Aaron Tippin
and former Arkansas governor and Fox News personality Mike
Huckabee unveiled a new album Wednesday (Oct. 13) to raise money to buy musical instruments for children. The two made the
announcement at the W.O. Smith Music School in Nashville. Titled
I Wanna Play!, the album spotlights songs from Tippin,
Lorrie Morgan,
John
Anderson,
George Jones, Neil Sedaka,
Ray
Price,
Ronnie Milsap,
Darryl
Worley, Louise Mandrell and
Tracy Lawrence. Huckabee, an ardent
amateur musician who often features country artists on his television show, plays bass on three of the tracks. NAMM -- the
National Association of Music Merchants -- is backing the album and used Wednesday's ceremony to present a check for $10,000
to the school, which specializes in providing low-cost music instruction to underprivileged students. Huckabee said he got
his first guitar -- a $99 electric model from J. C. Penney -- when he was 11 and credited the instrument with helping him
get over his "innate shyness." He contended that instruments can have the same transformative power for anyone who's drawn
to them. Tippin and his wife, Thea, co-wrote the album's title cut, and students from the music school sing on it. Talent
booker Bobby Roberts, who put the project together, says he contemplates a series of such albums.
