Justin Winokur

The kind of music you'd get if Brian Wilson and Sigur Ros drove an ice cream van into Fleetwood Mac.

Thirteen Songs About Love is Justin Winokur's most recent work, a lush, quirky solo album about love, loss and time.

Think rich, organic, vocal-driven songs. Think Beach Boys harmonies and giant, Fleetwood Mac production. Think sad, modern indie-pop singer-songwriter. One reviewer said it sounds like 'the miracle love child of Elliott Smith and Beth Orton, had Elliott Smith not stabbed himself in the heart.'

"Pretty much no matter what I tried to write, just about the only thing that ever came out was a sad love song," Justin says. Those 'wuss-rock' songs, as he affectionately calls them, spilled out of him for years, growing out of the ups and downs and evolutions of his relationships with people around him.

Justin sold everything he had to raise the money to fly to Sweden to record the album with his dream producer. When he still came up short, he swallowed his pride and asked the readers of his popular online journal for help. Their reaction surprised and overwhelmed him: letters, notes, bills, checks, and PayPal donations poured in from friends and fans around the world. Little kids even sent in coins taped to pieces of paper.

It sounds like a dream come true -- crossing oceans to make a record with his heroes, fueled by the love and support of so many -- but Justin doesn't describe Thirteen Songs About Love as the album of his dreams.

"It was better than that," he says. "I didn't even know how to dream that big."

* Justin worked on "No Truth Anymore" with master songwriter/producer Desmond Child on stage at the sold-out ASCAP songwriting expo in Los Angeles.

* Justin's song "No Truth Anymore" was featured in the NBC show "Passions."

* "I Loved You More" reached #40 on the Swedish download charts in 2005.

* During 2006, Justin Winokur spent six weeks in the top 50 pop charts at AmericanIdolUnderground.com.