Dean Hillestad Mustang Music Man

You know you've soared to the top of popular culture when your name appears in a hit song. For the Mustang, that status was reached early and often, as Dean Hillestad is quick to point out while scrolling his collection of Mustang songs. Obviously, "Mustang Sally," written and recorded by Sir Mack Rice in 1965 and forever immortalized by Wilson Pickett in 1966, is tops on almost everyone's list of most memorable Mustang songs, but there were plenty of others, as Dean's iPod collection proves.

"I've been a Mustang enthusiast since day one-my first new car was a '65 Mustang fastback-and I've always been interested in music," Dean explains. "I guess it dates back to 'Mustang Sally' and some of the other Mustang songs from the 1960s."

But it was much later before Dean started collecting songs. At a Shelby American Automobile Club convention in the late 1990s, Dean stumbled across a copy of the album, "Mustang," by the Zip Codes. Intrigued by the Mustang photos on the cover and the Mustang-related song titles, Dean bought the album for $50.

Intrigued, Dean began collecting cassettes and CDs with Mustangs on the cover. But when he bought an iPod, he discovered the ability to "collect" songs with Mustang in the name or Mustang as part of the lyrics. "Any time I heard a song that had Mustang in it, I would add it to my playlist," Dean says. "At this point I have over 60 songs that have at least one mention of a Mustang. The instrumentals have Mustang in their name." Deans admits that the Internet, and particularly iTunes, opened up a huge new pathway for finding and downloading the music.

Dean's current playlist contains over 60 songs, including 18 versions of "Mustang Sally."

We asked Dean if he would mind sharing his list with Mustang Monthly readers so they can start their own Mustang music collection. "No problem," he told us. "I like sharing it with people. I enjoy meeting people and sharing stories. Seeing other peoples' enthusiasm is what gets me enthused."

If you know about a Mustang song that's not on Dean's list, he'd appreciate hearing about it so he can continue adding to his playlist. You can drop him an email at deanhillestad@gmail.com.