Great song are aural, intellectual and visceral, meaning that the have to be pleasing to listen to, make you think, and make you feel. The best example I can give is Sting. He tells stories in song as well as anybody, and after all, what are songs if not stories set to music?

There is a woman who is from the Cleveland area but now lives in Nashville. Her name is Anne E. DeChant. She is one of the best songwriters I know. Her lyrics are incredible from the standpoint that she paints pictures with them. Her use of metaphor is phenomenal. One song from her last album, entitled The Sun Coming In, is called Sunday Morning Drive (which charted well on the Americana chart). It's a story about a family piling into the car after church on a Sunday morning and just driving to nowhere. As the song passes you can just SEE the kids in the back playing, goofing around being kids, laughing.... and if any of you ever did that when you were kids, the relation to the lyrics will be palpable. Give her a listen on YouTube. Just search for her name. Song titles to look for are the aforementioned, Running Red Lights, Better Than This, Water in Whiskey, and Into Me. That's the starter kit. Many of you may want to visit her web page and buy some music after you hear her. She is someone I admire deeply and I am happy to call her friend.

THAT kind of music is what I go out to hear. ANYBODY can play Free bird, as evidenced by the fact that EVERYBODY does.

I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.

1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.