Joe Conley's acoustic Americana sound reflects his southern Appalachian roots, but they don't explain the comic and ironic bent of the songs on his recently released first CD, Sad Songs For Happy People.  Maybe those come from his family, where no subject was exempt from ridicule. Or maybe they're from his early facination with the songs of Randy Newman and Shel Silverstein.  Mix in his careful attention to language, honed while earning an M.F.A. in creative writing (fiction), and you get a first release worth paying attention to.