Nonetheless Hank Senior's work is full of empathy and compassion and grim humour for life's losers.

And isn't this what Obama is about? Trying to end this business of only a third of Americans having medical cover - extracting you from foreign wars that should hve been short punitive expeditions, but turned into trying reforming countries that don't really want to be reformed, and thus wasting your country's wealth.

I'm sorry that Hank jnr has suffered from trying to live up the rep of his father, who was a songwriting genius. It can't have been easy for him. For what its worth I always thought Hank Jnr's records were pretty damn good. being a good musician doesn't stop you being a dope - as my friends often say about me.