Many of Steven's albums take form of tribute and thematic as well. His second album: The Wayward Bus takes the form as a kind of tribute to
Phil Spector Master of "The Wall of Sound." Other albums, like
The Charm of the Highway Strip carries a theme of travel, and (oddly enough) Vampires.
A few of his songs also deal (in a vonnegut-esque way) with a story (of sorts) told from a completely removed narrator. Mostly stories told by the dead. He's infected with an obsequious dry wit, cynicism and at the same time, a hopeless romanticism that still makes my dried up overused heart cry a little.