On his new duo album with Michael G. Ronstadt, "Crooked Fiddle," Aaron Nathans presents a new song about 13-year-old nervously preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. Who else has done that? And why would they want to?

His mission is to write songs about things no one else has written about before. Like a song about male bonding between a guy and his barber. Or the onslaught of the outside world upon a new parent. Surely somebody's written that song, right? Ok, find it.

Aaron describes his songs as wild-mind, bittersweet acoustic music. He's one of a million guitar-slinging singer songwriters, but you've never heard anyone quite like Aaron, with his warped sense of humor and off-kilter view of the world. The Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas honored Aaron by naming him to the 2011 New Folk class, joining a list of previous honorees like Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin and Lucinda Williams.

His solo shows include humorous, meandering stories that will keep you every bit as captivated as the music itself -- beautiful guitar work, catchy melodies, and his sweet baritone voice.

His duo shows with Michael are high-energy events, full of musical combustion as Aaron plays off Michael's brilliant cello work, as well as Michael's own mind-bending, wildly creative songs.

Aaron continues his songwriting journey with "Crooked Fiddle," which features nine previously unrecorded songs of Aaron's, and 12 songs altogether. They include "If I Had an Axe," imagined from the point of view of Pete Seeger as his protege, Bob Dylan, declares his independence from the folk community. "Cars Don't Keep" is a sequel of sorts to David Wilcox' "Rusty Old American Dream," when the car can no longer drive and it's time to say goodbye.

Aaron and Michael set Irish folk music to "I Stood Upon a Hill," a poem Michael found in a used bookstore by Clarence Dan Blachly, who had fallen into obscurity and died long before either musician was born.

Aaron has opened for Lucy Kaplansky, Tracy Grammer, Vance Gilbert and other folk luminaries. He has written with Craig Bickhardt, Phil Henry and Beth Kille. Aaron was born in the mill town of Paterson, New Jersey; grew up in Bexley, Ohio; and lives with his wife, the writer Debra Neff Nathans, in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.