Changing her tune.

Cheryl Wheeler caused a stir in May when her three-year-old anti-gun anthem, "If It Were Up to Me," got an airplay boost after the Colorado high school shootings. But the out singer-activist has since allowed superstar Garth Brooks to tamper with her tune on his new album, Garth Brooks in ... the Life of Chris Gaines. On a track called "Right Now," the pro-gun Brooks melds Wheeler's lyrical laundry list of societal scapegoats with the chorus from the '60s anthem "Get Together"--and removes Wheeler's punch line: "If it were up to me, I'd take away the guns." Wheeler, on the road, couldn't talk, but rep Tony Gottlieb says he and the songsmith expected the deletion would "lead to criticism" but also saw "the opportunity for the song to spread." Adds Gottlieb: "A lot of radio stations didn't play it the first time around. I hope this gives her a new voice."