NASHVILLE — Gail Davies will begin production in mid-June on Caught in a Webb, an all-star tribute album to Webb Pierce. The project will feature such luminaries as Mark Knopfler, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam.

Pierce dominated the country charts during the 1950s, outstripping such formidable competitors as Eddy Arnold, Lefty Frizzell and Jim Reeves. He died in 1991. Proceeds from the album will be given to the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation, Davies said. All participants are donating their services.

"Most girls grow up wanting to be Patsy Cline," Davies said. "I wanted to grow up to be Webb Pierce." Indeed, Davies' first charted single, "No Love Have I" in 1978, was a cover of Pierce's 1959 hit.

While Davies is best known as a singer and songwriter, "The Encyclopedia of Country Music" also credits her as "the first woman in country music to produce and arrange her own recordings." She says she started planning the Pierce album about three months ago. No deal has yet been struck with a record company for the album.

Davies says she hopes to release the album in October. She is also planning to stage a benefit concert around the album on Oct. 24.

Tentative tracklist for Caught in a Webb, according to Davies:

The participating musicians are Steve Fishell, Weldon Myrick, Johnny Cox, Stu Basore, Kenny Vaughan, Pat Bergeson, Chris Nole, Rodger Morris, Rob Price, Dave Rowe, Hoot Hester, Kenny Sears, Hank Singer, Harold Bradley and the Jordanaires.