What’s a lyric that resonates deeply with you and why? I'm far from religious, but I pay attention to the effect that religion plays on society. Although the utter hypocrisy of the Christian right-wingers seems like a fairly recent development, it really isn't. Woody Guthrie was singing about the dividing line between God and mammon 85 years ago. This song was written in New York City Of a rich man, preacher, and slave If Jesus was to preach what He preached in Galilee, They would lay poor Jesus in His grave.

If your life were a movie, what would its theme song be? Authority Song by John Cougar Mellencamp - I swear, if there is a truer lyric than "I fight authority. Authority always wins>", I don't know what it is. IDGAF, though. I'm going to keep doing me, until I die. I have never been able to play the emperor has no clothes game. I value honesty and transparency in a world that prefers to keep secrets as a power play and to pretend that certain truths don't exist. I'm good-natured, but outspoken. I don't expect to totally change the culture, but I strive to make my mark.

What’s your favorite love song, and why? She Thinks I Still Care by George Jones - anyone who has ever gone through a reluctant breakup or two can relate to most of the lines in this classic tune by George Jones. It has also been recorded by Elvis, James Taylor, Merle Haggard and many others. I love to sing along with this one because It's one of the few songs that fits my voice's ability to harmonize.

What’s a hidden gem or underrated song you love? I don't think I've ever heard any of the Top 10 Most Played songs in my music collection ever played on the radio. My all time #1 most played is Welfare Music, a song I learned to love by listening to The Bottle Rockets but one that has been recorded by several other artists, notably John Hiatt and The Hardworking Americans. The tune has a nice guitar lick and some biting social commentary at the expense of the loathsome Jesse Helms and Rush Limbaugh.

What's a gulity pleasure song? - Convoy by C.W. McCall - If you were a kid in the 70s, you probably thought this song was cool too. It's a tune about CD radios, a brief national craze during the decade. They were even options on high-end automobiles like Lincoln Continentals and Cadillac El Dorados. There is a certain beat poetry vibe to the lyrics, characterized by the unforgettable line "eleven long-haired friends of Jesus in a chartreuse microbus." I recently heard this played on the Muzak system of a barbecue joint in Salem, VA and my respect for the owners grew in that moment.

Which song would you use to introduce yourself to someone new? -- This Land is Your Land by Woodie Guthrie - This is one of those songs that few people have ever heard all the lyrics to. Woody Guthrie was a 100% radical human being, a friend to the working man and an enemy of the bosses. Joe Klein's biography, Woody Guthrie - A Life, is one of the most beautiful books ever written.

Share a song that tells a great story. Highway Patrolman by Bruce Springsteen on Nebraska - In just a few minutes, the narrator of this song lays out a tale that would be hard for a director to capture in a two-hour movie. It's about brothers who took different paths in the 1960s. One of them got drafted and went to war, coming home damaged. The other could have played it safe at home, but didn't. He took a job as a cop. On the fateful night the song is about, he gets called out to a crime scene of his brother's making. Instead of arresting him, he just chases him to the Canadian border and watched his tail lights disappear.