Andy Sullivan and Dirty Bomb (photo courtesy of the artist)

Many people had many different reactions to the scandal involving disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, but journalist Andy Sullivan's was particularly unique—he decided to write an album about it. 

Sullivan, who works for Reuters by day, recently released the Abramoff-inspired concept album King of the Hill, with his band, Dirty Bomb.  The group will perform from the album during its "Welcome Back, Jack!" party at Velvet Lounge on Dec. 3, which is also the last full day of Abramoff's sentence.

"I was covering the Abramoff investigation, the various trials, and every week, these different characters were down at the courthouse, and there would be a plea bargain, or new emails released," Sullivan says. "I'd write these wire stories about it, but there was a lot of rich color I couldn't get in there."

The journalist thought his observations on the Abramoff scandal had the makings of a broadway musical, but he had no idea how to write or produce a broadway musical. "But I do know how to make a record," he says.

The first song Sullivan wrote for the project was "Lincoln Town Car. "All of these jokers always had a Lincoln Town Car idling at the curb ready to go," Sullivan says. "They'd run out of the courthouse, with everyone baying at their heels like a pack of hounds, they'd give their 'no comment,' then get in their cars and zoom off," he says. "I thought, Wow, is there like a defense attorney's handbook out there that requires the use of Lincoln Town Cars?"

The musician, who has lived in the D.C. area for 10 years, and released a solo record in 2006, says that while the album is focused on the famous lobbyist, he attempted to tell a relatable tale with King of the Hill. "Beyond the specific story of lobbyists in Washington, there's a more universal story beneath that anyone who has a job or any sort of ambition can probably relate to," Sullivan says.

"There are very specific elements drawn from the Abramoff scandal, but I wanted to make it broad as well," he continues. "I didn't want it to be  dragging the listener by the nose through the stations of the cross."

Like most concept albums, Sullivan says, it "gets a little fuzzy toward the end," but he adds that it was fun putting together a project that deviates from rock's standard themes.

"The sort of rock canon is defined by songs about trying to meet girls or boys, and defining who you are," he says. "As you get a little older, you resolve some of those questions, but the broader question remains— 'What's my place in this world?' And often those emotions are tied up in the workplace, especially here in Washington."

Although King of the Hill is inspired by Abramoff, Sullivan stresses that it is definitely not a political album. "It's not diatribe about how corruption is bad," he says. "I personally have very little interest in political music, finger-wagging protest music—I think those two things probably shouldn’t mix."