* Valentine's Day is over, girls, so here's how it is. We're guys: sometimes we drink too much beer, act stupid with our pals, get hot for the waitress even though we're married and run from commitment 'cause we're scared. The good guys know all this, and wrestle with it to become decent human beings.

Toronto singer-songwriter Greg Hobbs is one of the good guys, and has documented these struggles quite brilliantly on his fourth album, Threats & Promises. The Hamilton-born Hobbs writes well about drinking and carousing and that waitress. Smart, funny and a tad dishevelled in a downtown Tim Hortons, he's at pains to point out that girls like the album, too. "Beautiful Girls" is a hilarious song about how they choose horrible guys. Sometimes, Hobbs distances himself from romantic involvement, denying the bonding that led to a night of passion ("You Came Along") or running from romance before it goes bad ("Leave This Town"). Elsewhere, he celebrates a cheerful platonic friend ("Amanda") and writes a stand-up love song that commits to the girl in spite of his weaknesses ("I Won't Always Be Smiling").

"I'm really proud of that song," says Hobbs. "The hardest thing to do is write a love song without being schlocky. Part of the reason there's probably more heartache songs than love songs is that, frankly, they're easier to write. With 'You Came Along,' it's partly that a one-night stand can be so special: the first time you get together with someone. As far as 'Leave This Town' goes, I have this pessimistic streak where if things are going really well, I'm just aware that it's going to be over soon. Not to get melodramatic about it."

Hobbs happened to be listening to Steve Earle, late-'60s Rolling Stones and Dylan's Love and Theft when he recorded Threats. That's why it's more acoustic-based than his last album, the pop-rocking Drake Motel. This time, his voice is rasping right in your ear. "No one could make a record like Beggars Banquet nowadays," he says. "I thought, well, I'm gonna do it, 'cause no one buys 'em anyway!"

Hobbs makes a few such charming, self-deprecating comments throughout our conversation, but this Carleton journalism grad, who day-jobs at the CBC, continues to move forward. "A lot of people wonder what I keep doing it for," he says. "Sometimes I don't even know. But I will keep making records." Hobbs releases Threats this Saturday in a rare theatre show at the Poor Alex, without the benefits a label, an agent or a manager (yet).

He recalls being at a folk conference where some of the younger acts were bemoaning those scarcities. The older artists reminded them that these are comparatively recent phenomena. "I don't think Woody Guthrie needed tour support when he walked into a town," Hobbs laughs. "I think he wanted a meal!"