Break a country singer’s heart, and he’ll write a ballad. Break his Taylor guitar, and he’ll put a music video on YouTube that gets more than 3.2 million views in ten days. Thus is the story of Dave Carroll, whose guitar got busted when he was flying United to Nebraska with the band Sons of Maxwell. A draconian battle ensued, during which Carroll was finally told that he wouldn’t be compensated for the $3500 guitar. His response? “I promised the last person to finally say “no” to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world.”

Most country music deals with widely accessible subjects: love, betrayal. Apparently, airline hatred also “unites” us.