Shooter targeted a King

Stephen King is a master at creating characters. But when Shooter Jennings came calling, the best-selling author decided to become one, playing a central figure in Jennings’ upcoming concept album, “Black Ribbons.”

Due March 2, it’s the first CD in two years by the son of country legend Waylon Jennings.

King is the voice of Will O’ The Wisp, a radio talk-show host being phased out due to government censorship.

He spends his last hour on the air delivering a diatribe about the decline of America, and playing the music of Jennings’ new band, Hierophant.

Jennings had never met King (and still hasn’t). But he knew that the author was a fan, and figured he would be the perfect narrator for the musical tale.

The two exchanged ideas through messages, and came up with the foreboding words of Will O’ The Wisp together.

Jennings said he came up with the idea for the album as he was driving across the country with his fiancee, actress Drea de Matteo, and their infant daughter, Alabama.

As he listened to the radio, he heard the fears of people who predicted everything from a police state to the end of the United States as it once was.

“It seems like we’re losing our freedoms and a lot of our rights day by day based on the things that have happened in the world,” he says.

“But I think that the overall message of the record is a positive one, that truth and love and the connection between two people is something that no matter what happens in the world, it can’t be touched.”

The birthday bunch

Singer Ray Price is 84. Singer Glenn Yarborough is 80. Actor Anthony Andrews is 62. Actress Kirstie Alley is 59. Political commentator Rush Limbaugh is 59. Radio personality Howard Stern is 56. Newswoman Christiane Amanpour is 52. Rapper Raekwon (Wu Tang Clan) is 40. Singer Melanie “Sporty Spice” Chisholm is 36.