Artist:   Over the Rhine
Song:   "If A Song Could Be President"
Album: The Trumpet Child
Label:   Great Speckled Dog
Year:    2007

Husband and wife duo Over the Rhine have elected a song for president. Of course, this election happened circa 2007 when hope for political change was still questionable at best and a song seemed as good a presidential nominee as any. Inspired by the band's visit to the White House in 2005 when they actually sat down and chatted with an administration in which they took issue, "If a Song Could Be President" is what Linford Detweiler and Karen Bergquist took away from that meeting. The intrinsic power of the music that the duo creates is its ability to bring people together (something the country badly needed), so hell, why not create a political community with all of Americana's music's finest: Steve Earle as newsman, Neil Young elected Senator (they give him a bye for being Canadian), Emmylou Harris as Ambassador, and John Prine heads up the FBI.  When Bergquist croons "We wouldn't need an under-achiever-in-chief, if a song could be president," backed by country-tinged acoustic and slide guitar licks, its clear that the duo is on to something. It's almost impossible not to sway along arm in arm with your fellow American.