This one showed up in a dream last night. No real idea why. I know it captured my heart as a teenager because I loved the live vibe and the tight vocal harmony. Pretty sure this is Amy along with Gary Chapman and Michael W. Smith. It's just such a late 80's vibe... good memories.

What’s a lyric that resonates deeply with you and why?

Going old school here. This song so closely resembles my family of origin in so many ways. "Seven people crammed into a car that seated five..."

What’s your favorite collaboration between artists?

So there's this album credited to Andrew Peterson... and yeah, he wrote the songs for it, and is the core that holds it together, and has lead the tour of it for 20+ years. But in its original form it is such an amazing collaboration between half a dozen folks who are solo artists in their own right: Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn, Andrew Osenga, Derek Webb, Peterson, Ben Shive... and then a full complement of amazing supporting players. Wowza.

I first heard this song when Jill sang it while sitting on a living room couch, accompanied by the two Andys on guitars... but that's a different story.

Which song would you use to introduce yourself to someone new?

Oh dear. Do I go with my love of classical? Or of jazz? Or of clever lyrics, especially those in Broadway shows? Or just a pop song with a great vibe? I could do a post on each, I suppose. But today I'll go with the great vibe.

If there's a song that immediately forces me to just take a deep breath and relax, this is it. I don't think it's a fantastic stand-alone song - fairly repetitive, not a ton of content. But it was used as the theme song for the TV show Ed which was a favorite for me circa 2000. (And, sadly, that isn't available streaming anywhere and never got a DVD release.) It immediately takes me back to what feels like a simpler time. Love it.

Did you sing along to anything today? Describe the moment.

I sang along with this in my head... it's a long story. I've had a fragment from "Funny Honey" from Chicago stuck in my head for a while, with the nagging thought that it reminded me of some other song lyric that I just couldn't put my finger on.

Finally this morning I changed the rhythm on that other fragment from a shuffle to a straight-ahead 4/4, and finally it popped. And it's a fragment from this song.

So I'm probably the first person linking the musical Chicago and Rich Mullins in the same post... just an artifact of my weird brain.

What song do you wish you had written?

I don't know that there's a song I wish I had written... but I'm glad for the songs I've found that feel like they're what I would've written if I had the ability. This is one.

Share a song that changed your perspective on music.

I was a teenager and my musical diet had basically been classical and contemporary christian music. Then a friend shared the When Harry Met Sally soundtrack album with me, and my life changed. I know now that a very young Harry Connick Jr was really reaching back to his best Sinatra with these big band arrangements. but as a 14-year-old, I just knew it was fantastic music in a style that I'd never really heard before.

What song makes you want to write poetry?

I don't want to write poetry. I never want to write poetry. It's not my thing. But when I think about songs that are poetry, I go to Dylan. And for some reason this is the first one that came to mind that I love, though there are so many.

Gotta love some mid-80s CCM rock-and-roll. Feels like this whole record was MWS trying to figure out where the heck his lane was. (This wasn't really it.)