Obviously, the music of folk singer James Taylor has touched a lot of people, but when musical icons like Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, and Sting show up to honor you at an awards banquet you have reached another stratosphere.

This was the case on Monday when Taylor was given the MusiCares person of the year award in Los Angeles. So what it is about Taylor's music that makes even contemporary artists like India Arie and Sheryl Crow look up to him?

Is it his guitar playing skill? No doubt Taylor knows what he's doing when he picks up a guitar to play one of his folk tunes, but he is not exactly known as a virtuoso. That leaves us with a more logical answer; his songwriting ability.

James Taylor figured out a way to really touch the root of human emotion in his songs. That's what brings fans back for more and makes many of his songs seemingly immune to becoming played out (despite their inherent sappiness). So let's take a look at few choice lyrics that bear this point out.

Since I'm prone to bouts of ADD I'm just going to look at one song. It's arguably his most famous offering, "Fire and Rain". Here we have a song that Taylor himself said was about the death of his girlfriend in a tragic plane crash, although some say that it alludes to a girl he met while on one of his drug-induced mental hospital visits.

In any case, Taylor was able use "Fire and Rain" as a platform from which to express feeling of unexpected loss and that deeply human longing to see someone once more after gaining the knowledge that they are gone forever, whether they are actually dead or just gone from your life. These sentiments are echoed in the one of the song's more famous lines "But I always thought that I'd see you, baby, one more time again, now".

However, what makes this song, and Taylor's songwriting in general, transcendent is his ability to use concrete imagery to describe emotional states. Lines like, "Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun", allow the listener to determine his or her own meaning to both the individual lyric and the nature of their own emotions.

It is lyrics like these that have inspired generations of lovers and loners. So even if you think that James Taylor is somehow cheesy or overly sentimental, take sometime to explore his music. It will definitely be worth your while.