For out musician D.C. Anderson, life is a Liza Minelli song – or at least akin to the diva’s rendition of “Life is a Cabaret” in the 1972 musical, Cabaret.

The folk/cabaret singer/songwriter recently released the album Our Story, which showcases his ability to tell a story through lyrics.

With Our Story, Anderson carries on his tradition of tongue-in-cheek humor with songs such as “My A** Looks Fant**tic!” and “Nine Percent Disgusted: An Art Song,” and mixes the disc up with a few ballads. Come performance time, the ballads break up the audience’s laughter, a happy medium for the performer.

“The thing about doing a concert is, unless you want to put them to sleep, I feel like you always need to earn a ballad,” Anderson said. “I feel like I can sense in an evening when I can do one and have people pay attention, and one of the ways to do it is to get them laughing.

“That’s how I started writing, actually. I used to do only other people’s things, and then after a while I wanted to do new material, and I finally just thought, ‘You know, I’m going to give it a go,’” Anderson said of his humorous take on music, which, he said, mirrors the absurdities in everyday life.

“The first song I wrote was called, ‘Your Father And I Have Been Talking,’ because I had just been talking to my mom, and that’s a phrase she uses all the time,” Anderson said. “Just hearing a phrase sometimes, I’ll be just walking down the street – it’s one of the things I like about living in New York, you’re around people a lot more – and someone could say something and, boom, there’s your song title.”

Anderson’s love of music stems from his childhood when his teachers would bring out a box of instruments. Anderson “used to love banging on those things,” but was embarrassed when he was singled out for having rhythm.

Later in life, Anderson began fusing folk and cabaret style in his music, because, as he says, he felt the two genres were linked.

“I feel that both folk and cabaret, there’s an importance upon story, there’s an importance placed upon literate lyrics. I think that there’s a different standard – I want to say a higher standard, but I don’t mean to judge,” he said. “Folk and cabaret singers rarely sing something or write something just to get a hook or a dance beat. It’s more about telling a story.”

Telling stories through lyrics, recording a song and performing it on stage, also affords Anderson a way to express his sexuality. Anderson said being an “out artist” has changed his outlook on life.

“As soon as I started being open about my orientation, I definitely felt more relaxed in life,” he said. “Before then, I was always tense that someone was going to figure it out and then decide that I was ‘not worthy.’ I figured out after a while that the ‘not worthy’ thing had to do with my judgment more than anybody else’s.

“And there are still people who will, when they find out that information about me, make a judgment. And they will maybe limit or curtail some sort of contact with me. But, then I do that with Republicans, so there we go,” he joked.

Even though Anderson is comfortable in his own skin, there are moments when the feeling he is “not worthy” creeps in.

“I do have to admit there are times, though – and this is not something I am particularly … I don’t know if proud is the word – but there are times when I say to myself, ‘OK, there’s a particular audience I am singing for, and do I sing my song, ‘Hard This Goodbye,’ in which it is very clear I am a gay person?’

“So do I do that or do I not? And sometimes I say to myself, ‘At this point, and with these particular people, I’m not going to sing that song to them.’ I guess as I’m saying all of this, there’s a part of me that’s saying ‘shut up about this!’ But at the same time, I’m being frank about being an out musician, like I’m an out broccoli eater, like I’m an out Democrat.”

Sexual politics aside, Anderson’s marriage of music, lyrics and sexuality, lends itself masterfully to stories of love lost and found, which is showcased on the title track of Our Story. In the song, two exes reunite to discover whether there are enough sparks to re-ignite former flames. And, in the song “You,” Anderson plays the dutiful husband. Each song, he hopes, resonates with the intended audience.

“Whether it’s something about inter-personal relationships that affected me or something that cracked me up, and therefore, I wrote about it … I’m hoping that it will affect them in some way, too,” he said.

Anderson has also dabbled in musical theater. Presently, he is touring with The Phantom of the Opera playing the character “Andre.”

It would seem that his wry observations on life would be well-suited for musical theater, an idea not lost on Anderson.

“I am planning that. My goal while I am touring with Phantom, because I perform wherever I can in the towns where Phantom is playing, is to be finding the songs that are the audience favorites, and doing an evening that will be a theatrical evening,” he said. “ … I often write about topics that I think would be an interesting monologue to keep as a part of the show. I tend to have a lot of opinions, very strong opinions about things, and that’s the kind of thing that makes a theater piece work.

“So, I’ve been putting it together in my mind and on paper and whenever my run in Phantom is through, I will be able, hopefully, to go from theater to theater and do a two- hour stage show and be like a Spaulding Gray with music.”