Wouldn’t Death Row Be the Perfect Label? : Tim Robbins enlists Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Eddie Vedder and more to contribute songs for the companion album to his new film.

Tim Robbins did just fine writing and performing the songs for his 1992 movie “Bob Roberts,” in which he played a balladeering conservative politician.

But for his new movie, “Dead Man Walking,” he asked a few friends to pitch in.

Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash and the cross-cultural team of Eddie Vedder and Pakistani devotional singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan are among those who provided original songs inspired by the film, which is based on the true story of Sister Helen Prejean. The Louisiana nun, who counsels Death Row inmates, told her story in the 1993 bestseller of the same title.

Also offering new songs for the film--written and directed by Robbins and starring his companion Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn--are Patti Smith, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tom Waits, Michelle Shocked, Suzanne Vega and Steve Earle.

But you most likely won’t hear their songs in the movie. Robbins, feeling that soundtrack songs would be inappropriate for the film, is instead putting them on an album due from Columbia Records in January. It’s possible that one song will be used on the opening credits and one or two on the closing credits, Robbins says. (Ironically, he refused to release an album of the clever “Bob Roberts” songs for fear their mock-jingoism might be used for serious purposes by right-wing types.)

Says Robbins of the new project: “I just kept imagining different kinds of songs that could derive from the material. At the same time, I knew that this wasn’t the kind of film that could support songs within the movie. No bar scenes or dancing scenes.

“So what I did was write letters or call them on the phone and say basically, ‘If this film or the book or articles I sent you inspire you in any way to write a song, we’d love to do a companion piece to the movie.’ ”

Pearl Jam’s Vedder, whom Robbins had never met, was one of the first to respond. Robbins mentioned in passing that Ali Khan had been enlisted to do some ethereal vocals on the film score being composed by the director’s brother, David. Vedder turned out to be a big fan of the Pakistani singer and jumped at the chance to work with him.

Meanwhile, Springsteen, a friend of Robbins and Sarandon, attended a screening of the film in New York and agreed to write the title song. Cash added a number that Robbins says is “essential” to the project.

“All these people have in some way inspired me to write, to make up stories,” Robbins says. “Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’ is a big inspiration. Eddie’s music has a real importance to it. So all these people writing for this film, it’s like completing a circle.”