Stipe Teams With Coldplay, Timberlake for Katrina

Nope, that's not a list of Grammy performers, nor is it the rogue's gallery headlining the such-and-such-funny-name festival. Rather, all these fine folks have joined together to create the digital charity EP In the Sun, released today via ol' ubiquitous iTunes. And their cause is just: all proceeds from sales of the EP go to the Mercy Corps' Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

In the Sun features six versions of brooding singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur's song "In the Sun", performed by Stipe. The versions include duets with Chris Martin of Coldplay and Arthur himself, a remix by Justin Timberlake and will.i.am's JAW Breakers project (Blake Schwarzenbach, call your lawyer!) and even a live cut with all of Coldplay backing. Sometime Smashing Pumpkin James Iha and Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and Ivy also contributed to Stipe's recording sessions, making In the Sun just about the most eclectic amalgam of chart-toppers this side of ever.

In a Mercy Corps press release, the blue-eyed R.E.M. frontman revealed that his motivation for In the Sun stemmed from the waning media interest in victims of last August's Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding in the Gulf region. Said Stipey:

"The news cycle has moved on and I don't want the public to forget about those who were affected by [Hurricane] Katrina or to believe that everything is fine now. Things are not fine. The storm is still impacting people's lives in very real ways and many have been left desperate. I want to remind each of us that as humans, and certainly as Americans, it is our responsibility to help those in need."

He continued, "I had to do something as a Southerner. I had to do something as a public figure. The one thing I can do is sing, and it's probably the best way to get people to pay attention."

Apparently longtime R.E.M. fanatic Arthur is pretty jazzed about the project as well.

"The whole thing is such an incredible honor," Arthur remarked in an interview with Billboard.com. "When we did the version where we sing together, he'd sing the first couple of lines, but we were doing it at the same time in the same vocal booth. I'm listening to him do the lines and thinking that I want him to just keep singing it!"

And that's not all: come springtime, the Sundance Channel will show the short film In the Sun, featuring "interviews with the musicians as well as hurricane survivors," according to Billboard.

R.E.M.ember:

01 In the Sun (Gulf Coast Relief) [feat. Chris Martin]
02 In the Sun (JAW Breakers Remix) [feat. Chris Martin]
03 In the Sun [feat. Joseph Arthur]
04 In the Sun
05 In the Sun (Live on "Austin City Limits") [feat. Coldplay]
06 In the Sun (Free Acoustic Couch Rehearsal) [feat. Joseph Arthur]

R.E.M.: http://www.remhq.com/
Mercy Corps: http://www.mercycorps.com/