It’s those little things – those stupid little things – that often drive people crazy. And that’s the subject of the title song to this Richie Valentine album. “The toughest things that life throws at us we can usually handle,” says the performing songwriter. “It’s when those insignificant items build up day after day that we sometimes explode, unless we just keep it all in perspective. “It’s not that I’m preaching to anybody. Most of the time I write tunes just to remind myself not to take life too seriously and that in the long run most of our daily disasters don’t amount to much.” “Stupid little things” takes listeners on a journey from the yearning of “Love me back” to the youthful feelings of loss in “Couldn’t bear to say goodbye,” captured live. The CD includes up-tempo traveling music in “Lone star won’t be lonely tonight” and the instrumental “Emporium,” to the heartfelt “Red sky,” a song about recent mine tragedies. Valentine is an award-winning journalist whose thousands of articles have been printed in publications ranging from newspapers and magazines to The Indie Bible, a guide for independent musicians. When he is not playing or writing music, he teaches reading and math at a maximum-security prison. Valentine has opened for such acts as Nashville hit songwriter Jon Ims (She’s in Love With the Boy) at the Down Home in Johnson City, Tenn. In addition to regular appearances at area cafes and coffee houses, he has performed on a variety of stages in Nashville – including the famous Bluebird Café -- and numerous times at the Bristol, Tenn. and Rhythm and Roots Reunion as part of the Boone Chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI).