It wasn't immediately clear to me what they wanted, so I pitched Black Waters as a timely tune. Got a fairly speedy response:

Thanks for the info. Michelle is only looking for new songs to be performed by the songwriter at one of her shows.

________________________________________
From: me
To: asharkey@sbcglobal.net
Sent: Tue, April 27, 2010 12:48:40 PM
Subject: Got Song?
Re the American Idle quest for hard-timely music, if covers are allowed, take a look a Jean Ritchie's Black Waters…apropos now with the coal mine and gulf oil rig disasters.