Music CD proceeds to benefit Imus Ranch

Radio personality's ranch hosts 100 ill children yearly

By Staci Matlock | The New Mexican

8/19/2008

Radio shock jock Don Imus announced the Sept. 16 release of a benefit music compact disc to raise money for his New Mexico ranch that hosts ill children each year. Willie Nelson, Patty Loveless and Levon Helm are among the artists featured on the disc.

All proceeds from the CD's sale will benefit the Imus Ranch in a place Imus calls Reader's Digest, N.M., near Ribera, about 50 miles southeast of Santa Fe. About 100 children a year who are sick with cancer and other blood diseases visit the ranch, learning to ride horses and eat a vegan diet. Children who've lost siblings to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome also attend the ranch's programs.

Imus operates the Imus Ranch as a working cattle ranch with his wife, Dierdre. The children come from New Mexico, around the country and the world, according to Imus Ranch staff. "The objective is to encourage in them a sense of achievement, responsibility and self-esteem and to instill pride and restore their dignity as they become aware of just how much they are able to accomplish," said a prepared statement from the ranch.

Imus selected the songs and recording artists, working with Kyle Lehning and Tracy Gershon to produce the CD under the New West Records label.

The CD features Bill & Rich singing the Beastie Boys classic "Fight For Your Right To Party"; Dwight Yoakam covering "Give Back The Key to My Heart"; Little Richard belting out "I Ain't Never"; and Lucinda Williams' version of "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys."

All the artists donated their time to the project, according to Imus Ranch staff.

New West Records, based in Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, started 11 years ago. Artists on the label have included Steve Earle, Rickie Lee Jones, Kris Kristofferson, The Flatlanders and Drive-By Truckers.

Imus, the popular, crude and craggy-faced National Broadcasters Hall of Famer, known for dissing on both friends and foes, landed in hot water a year ago after using what some called a racial and sexist slur in reference to the Rutgers University women's basketball team. Imus later issued an apology — which the Rutgers' team accepted — but CBS fired him from his 61-station syndicated program Imus in the Morning. He was back on the air eight months later with the help of Citadel Broadcasting Co.'s WABC-FM.

Some of his Ribera neighbors thought it was too bad his big-mouth style overshadowed the good work he often did, not only at the ranch, but in the local community. Imus gave tens of thousands of dollars to help fund a clinic and a community center in the rural, impoverished valley, according to people working on both projects. The day he was fired was the same day as Imus' annual fundraiser for Tomorrow's Children Fund, which has raised money over the years to help seriously ill children and their families.

The Imus Ranch CD will be available after Sept. 16 online and at music stores.