Henry H. Perritt Jr. had already been a law school dean, worked under four U.S. presidents, made a run for Congress, flown airplanes, sailed boats and penned more than a dozen books.
But he hadn't yet invented a new musical genre.
So the Chicago-Kent College of Law professor got down to work � and he dubbed the music style that he has created ''law rock.'' You can hear it on Perritt's freshman singing and song-writing effort, ''Wind Will Fill the Sails,'' recorded with his band Modofac.
He describes the style as something that happens when a 60-something law professor writes songs and eventually records them with a bunch of 20-something rock and jazz musicians.
About three years ago, Perritt started taking piano lessons and became interested in music theory and composition. One of his law students had a recommendation to help him learn more � write a song.
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'And I said, 'That's ridiculous. I can't write a song. And I don't sing particularly well.' [The student] said, 'Anybody can sing, and it's not all that complicated to write a simple song.' So I started playing around with it,'' Perritt said.
One of Perritt's former students, Matt Topic, later introduced Perritt to musician Tim Sandusky, who owns a recording studio.
''It's a good start, especially for somebody coming in at this phase in his life and career,'' said Topic, who plays the trumpet on a handful of tracks. ''It took a lot of courage for him to do it.''
Perritt and Sandusky decided to work together, and both sing on the album.
''As Hank has been doing this process, I've learned everything he does in his life,'' Sandusky said. ''And it seems like every two years, he embarks on something new.
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'He's not looking to make millions of dollars. He wants to write songs about his friends, for his friends and about his life � whether it's about a student of his or a trip on his sailboat,'' Sandusky said.
The album presents both serious and lighter points, perhaps none lighter � but a legitimate inquiry, Sandusky said � than a song that was written after Sandusky talked with Perritt about the legality of owning a skunk as a pet.
A sample of the lyrics: ''It's time for a skunk / My own skunk full of stripes / Law does not matter / I want my own skunk!''
The album takes a more serious tone on ''Back of the Room,'' in which Perritt addresses his thoughts on approaching a law student who looks bummed out in class.
''It's not uncommon to teach a big class, and you'll see a kid in the back that is just kind of tuned out. And if you're a good teacher, you try to reach out to them and see what's going on,'' Perritt said. ''At least some of the time, you turn the situation around by paying some attention and finding what the problem is and working directly with the student.
''And I think some of the things that I'm proudest of in 25 years of teaching are the times when I've done that and have gotten some results�. It means a lot to me,'' Perritt said.
Another song, ''He Held the Parchment High,'' addresses the suicide of a Chicago-Kent student two days before graduation. The student's brother accepted the diploma.
As the song recounts, ''He held the parchment high in the hollow, silent air / The room all knew his brother would not ever be there.''
The album also features ''Kosovo Disco,'' the first song Perritt wrote. During many trips to Kosovo, Perritt interviewed more than 100 Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers and wrote a book about it.
''Most were 17, 18 years old and they talked about how they got so fed up with what they viewed as oppression,'' Perritt said. ''So I was thinking about their stories when I was flying back from Europe. So I started to jot down some lyrics for a song.''
The album can be purchased online at www.cdbaby.com/cd/modofac and at www.myspace.com/modofacprof. Audio samples of each song also are available on those sites.
Perritt said he plans to keep writing songs.
''Mainly you do it because you enjoy it. But there's also a desire that other people enjoy it. I don't have any illusions that the album is going to go to the top of the charts. But I put a lot of effort into it and so has Tim,'' Perritt said.
''Whether somebody likes the music is up to them.''
