Let's make this birthday one to remember.

50 years old (Born on June 20, 1974)

Happy Birthday, Mark Erelli! May your day be filled with more harmony than a folk festival jam session and fewer surprises than tuning mishaps on stage. Ever since you won the Grand Prize at the 2005 International Songwriting Competition for "People Look Around," you've been crafting melodies that stick around longer in our heads than birthday cake calories.

Here's to another year of strumming stories into timeless tunes—your music continues to inspire us all. Keep shining bright like those award-winning lyrics; after all, you're proof that great songwriting never goes out of style (unlike questionable fashion choices from past gigs). Cheers!