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Sheryl Crow is giving away free music — a tactic she calls the “Tupperware” party approach to inspiring young people to vote.

The Grammy Award-winning singer announced a plan Wednesday to give a digital copy of her album Detours to the first 50,000 people who register three friends to vote.

She said: “I hope people wake up and emotionally engage in issues,” .

Crow’s giveaway is a kickoff to Rock the Vote’s voter registration drive. She is also offering a free download of her politically charged song Gasoline to anyone who logs onto the Rock the Vote website or anyone on the group’s mailing list, said the organization’s executive director Heather Smith.

Crow, 46, was one of the founding artists of Rock the Vote 18 years ago. She said the Detours album fits perfectly into the group’s cause since the lyrics touch on topics such as adoption, breast cancer, the war in Iraq, the environment and Hurricane Katrina.

“It’s about the issues that everyone’s talking about, but there’s a lot of hope,” Crow said. “At this moment in my life, writing about anything else would be uninteresting and impossible because I feel such urgency.”

Crow, who has advocated for environmental, health and humanitarian causes, said her fans know where she stands politically. But in this voter registration campaign she’s concerned only for the future of her 1-year-old son, Wyatt, and the future of American democracy.

Crow suggested that more musicians should use their music to promote issues that affect Americans. She said she was inspired by pop musicians from the 1960s and 70s, when political songs were performed by Edwin Starr, Buffalo Springfield, Marvin Gaye and Peter Paul & Mary.

“There was healthy competition among artists to create art that was commercial and political at the same time,” Crow said.

“Our music (now) is not representing the times — at least not socially and politically. Or maybe we’re just distracted.”

Rock the Vote aims to register 2 million young people to vote by November — the largest youth voter drive in history by three times, Smith said.

“These musicians speak to millions of people every day so for them to use their voices to inspire people is a key part of our program,” she said.

Anyone who recruits three people to vote will have to log onto the Rock the Vote website and go through a verification process before receiving Crow’s album.

Sheryl Crow says having breast cancer helped her discover her true self. The ‘All I Wanna Do’ singer – who was diagnosed with the potentially fatal disease in 2006 – was shocked when she got the news as she had always been so healthy but says it completely changed her outlook on life.

Sheryl – who adopted a baby son Wyatt after getting the all-clear at the end of 2006 – told Australia’s Courier Mail newspaper: “I’ve really learned it’s the experiences that take you far off your course that really help you to learn who you are.

“I’m not sure whether cancer made me a better person, but it definitely made me more of an awake person. When I was diagnosed, everything came to a screeching halt and I needed to take a good look at my life. It forced me to experience everything that was going on, from grief and anger to sadness and fear. We all get to the point where we really adhere to the art of distraction.”

Meanwhile, Sheryl is set to record a song for the US Olympic team. She will join Nelly and other artists on the soundtrack, which will be featured during NBC and Telemundo broadcasts of the Beijing Olympic Games next month.

Proceeds from the accompanying album, which will be available to download, will benefit the US Olympic team.