Hurry Home Early traces Zevon's career from the late 1960s until his untimely death from mesothelioma, an inoperable lung cancer, in 2003. From Phil Cody's "Splendid Isolation" to Robb Johnson's "Suzie Lightning," the CD tells the story of an artist torn between hopeful and dark impulses, locked in a struggle between heart and mind. From Tom Flannery's "Boom Boom Mancini" to Neil Luckett's "Mutineer," it explores the emotional interior of a composer who has been called the Hunter S. Thompson of audio journalism.

Wampus Multimedia started the Zevon project in 2001, after it released its first tribute CD, If I Were a Richman: a Tribute to the Music of Jonathan Richman, and was working on its second, After Hours: a Tribute to the Music of Lou Reed.

Hurry Home Early includes a previously unheard Warren Zevon song, "Warm Rain," discovered in Zevon's personal tape collection and interpreted by his son, Jordan Zevon, with singer Simone Stevens.

Contributors include: Phil Cody, who toured with Zevon; Matt Cartsonis (Zevon, Van Dyke Parks, Peter Himmelman), guitar on "Splendid Isolation"; Rami Jaffee (Wallflowers), organ on "Splendid Isolation"; Chris Butler (Waitresses), bass on "Reconsider Me"; Last Train Home, appearing in August on CBS-TV's Late Late Show; Neil Luckett, now working with Nirvana producer Jack Endino; Gary Eaton (founding member, Continental Drifters), guitar on "Mr. Bad Example"; Robbie Rist (L.A. power-pop producer known in a past life as Cousin Oliver of The Brady Bunch); and Jordan Zevon, who just released a new EP.

Hurry Home Early portrays an uncompromising artist making accessible records, a surgically precise and perceptive writer conveying a vision through the lens of Hollywood.

It was mastered by Eamon Loftus at C&C Studios (www.candcstudios.net) in Sterling, Virginia.

Wampus Multimedia is donating one dollar from the sale of each copy of Hurry Home Early to the American Cancer Society.