Martina McBride, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, and Rhett Akins are among a group of country artists who took part in the recording of the feature song for a disc that will benefit drug and alcohol treatment programs. Written by Tom Douglas, Kent Blazy, and Blair Daly, "When Love Rules the World" will appear on an album being assembled by the Nashville-based nonprofit educational organization Songs of Hope, Awareness, and Recovery for Everyone (SHARE), due out in April 2002.

Produced by Paul Worley, "When Love Rules the World" was recorded Nov. 5-6 with a group of Nashville singers and musicians that also included Susan Ashton, Sherri Austin, David Ball, T. Graham Brown, BR549, Jeff Carson, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Paul Jefferson, Hal Ketchum, the Kinleys, Collin Raye, and Daryle Singletary. Confirmed for later recording dates are Terri Clark, Joe Diffie, and the Wilkinsons. More artists are expected to join the project as it progresses over the next two months.

SHARE plans to license more than a dozen previously recorded songs for the album, which aims to publicize the problems of substance abuse while benefiting prevention and treatment programs. Tentatively scheduled for release April 1, the album will be distributed and sold through independent distributors, direct mail, the Internet, and by local substance abuse, prevention, and recovery groups for fund-raising purposes.

In related news, Jefferson and former Little Texas member Porter Howell are among the artists participating in the "Voices From AFAR" benefit CD, which supports addiction research. The album went on sale Nov. 2 on the American Foundation for Addiction Research (AFAR) Web site, addictionresearch.com, and includes songs about addiction and recovery.