For many in America Martin Luther King Jr. day is just another day off of work. Why no universal traditions, mass reflection or soul searching on how to build a better world free of injustice?

Sure, MLK day is an honored time for civil rights activists and an opportunity to shine a light on civil rights and the life of Martin Luther King. But what is it to you? How will you contribute to the dream of MLK this year? Will you help bring people together or drive us further apart?

This playlist honors the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. It may be a good starting point to help you reflect on not just this martyred American hero, but something even more important.

His cause.

"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ode To MLK Playlist

1. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaking - Martin Luther King, Jr.

2. Why? (The

Every music channel on television has been list crazy for quite some time, and Country Music Television is no exception. This playlist contains the first 25 tracks  as culled from the top 100 country love songs selected by CMT for their The Greatest series.

CMT selected the songs for the list by polling country music insiders and critics, and there's not much to argue about if you ask me. But lists like this inevitably create controversy as you simply can't please everyone no matter what songs you select. 

Country music has a long history of tugging at the heartstrings with emotionally gripping love songs, and the songs that made this list are some of the very best known to man according to CMT.

The playlist contains timeless artists like Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Conway Twitty, George Jones and Charley Pride. So make a note of it, Valetnine's Day is right around the corner.

Top 25 Country Love Songs

1. I Will Always Love You - Dolly Parton

2. Always On

This playlist features 16 classic punk rock bands covering the music of others, and in many cases the covers are not-so-punk songs. (If you don't know what defines "classic punk", here's a hint: no Grammys or top 40 hits, pre-1990).

I went through a serious punk phase in high school and it seems many young people still do today. I caught the fever in the early 1980s and was hooked hardcore for a few years. At that time bands like The Sex Pistols and The Ramones had spawned a true underground explosion of punk rock in America with bands like Black Flag, Government Issue, The Dead Kennedys, The Germs and Agent Orange spreading like a venereal disease through the back alleys and high school hallways of America. This playlist contains all of these bands and more.

It's interesting to hear a collection of covers by the punk bands of the era. Many of them are surprisingly competent while others are complete disasters that capture the essence of what punk rock was before bands like Green Day

I've lived up and down the east coast of the US from New England to South Florida, but over the last couple years I've had the chance to spend a good deal of time in California.  I must say that California is a different world in many ways. Although there is a multitude of natural beauty to be found across America, some of the drives I embarked on in CA offered some of the most breathtaking views I've seen in the U.S.A.

One drive in particular went from Walnut Creek to Napa Valley, across Marin county to the coast, then down the Pacific Coast Highway, through redwood forests to Sausalito and finally across the Golden Gate bridge into San Francisco.

For an east coast boy whose only previous experience with California was L.A. proper, it was like being on a alien planet, or maybe Tolkien's Middle Earth. I was awestruck at every turn by the landscape, wineries, architecture and natural beauty. I wanted to celebrate my experience with a California playlist, and for the sake of continuity