It's not fair to the artist, of course, but every once in a while it happens: there's a song that hits me as so stinkin' great that everything else in the catalog takes a permanent back seat.

Take Steve Forbert, who plays tonight at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center. This guy's a stunningly great songwriter - and has been since his "Jackrabbit Slim" album back in 1979, when his talent began to be acknowledged by all sorts of critics, fans and fellow musicians. All these years later, Forbert is still a giant.

My problem? In 1995, on an album called "Mission of the Crossroad Palms," he included a song called "Oh to Be Back With You" - and I listened to it about seventeen times in a row. Since then, I can't think of Forbert without remembering that truly incredible piece.

- RICK KOSTER

Steve Forbert, 7:30 tonight, Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main Street, Old Saybrook; $27; 1-877-503-1286, thekate.org.