I’m also one of those people who doesn’t own a record, but I agree. He hit an absolute sweet spot for being the quintessential American artist. Definitely rock, but story songs for the folkies and country-heads, and unapologetically of a specific place that happens to be urbanized and diverse. Left-leaning politics, but not a scold or a bore so people of a more conservative bent can pretend he’s not talking about them, or (and this is generally better) find that a little bit of empathy is sneaking in under their radar.