"Song of America," a 50-tune "history book'" that Reno helped shepherd, is in stores now, the Miami Herald has reported.

Reno is listed as an executive producer on the collection, which starts in 1492 with "Lakota Dream Song" and spans 25 eras of U.S. history, concluding with "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning," a song about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Reno said it all began when she heard her niece's musician husband, Ed Pettersen, play two history-inspired songs he had written.

"I was sitting there doing some work,'" Reno recalled. "And then I found I was listening to him and this song -- I couldn't figure out what it was about. When he told me, it came alive.'"

Pettersen said Reno immediately started suggesting eras of U.S. history that should be documented through music.

Unable to find any other comprehensive history told through folk songs, Petterson and Reno set out to compile their own.

"It's the good, the bad and the ugly," Reno said. "To omit Dixie or the Streets of Philadelphia is to omit a part of what has made America."