I didn't know Todd Snider’s music until the summer of 2014. I'd heard his name, seen his
CDs coming through the store over the years, but heard him variously tagged as
“folk” or “singer-songwriter” or “Americana” - areas of music that aren't necessarily my thing so much so I didn’t pay
close attention. I respect the craft and skill that goes into these, and once
in a while someone in one of these areas hits it on the head in a way that
makes me realize that I need to pay attention to music in every genre, not just
the arty and weird areas that usually draw my ear. It was with some surprise
then, when Twist & Shout hosted the Hard Working Americans for an in-store
back in July 2014, that on a stage with notables like flashy guitarist Neal
Casal, drummer Duane Trucks, and big guy bassist (and regular Twist shopper
when he's in town) Dave Schools of Widespread Panic, my eyes were locked on
Snider. He was barefooted, eccentric, twitchy, singing in a raspy drawl that
betrayed years of, um, interesting life choices, and he was magnetic to watch –
even when he wasn’t singing I always wanted to see what he was doing on stage.
And of course, this lead to me wanting to check out the records….
And that began here. I took
critic Robert Christgau's advice and chose between three albums he gave an 'A'
grade to – this one, 2006's The Devil You
Know (currently out of print, but it's great and turns up used regularly)
and Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables
from 2012 (also great, but too recent to be eligible for this column). In
addition to being readily available and having a cheeky nod to Dylan in the
album’s name, this had the added bonus of a song title that grabbed me outright:
“Conservative Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males”
– how does one have a title like that and not have it grab me? But as it turned
out, the reality of the song was even better. Snider mixes big doses of humor
in with his more serious (and very down-to-earth) political side, and not only
is the song smart and catchy, it's funny as hell too. But he’s funny (and
serious and smart and catchy) all over the record even before that one, which
is track 8. Right from the get-go, “Age Like Wine,” he’s self-deprecating
enough to sing “my new stuff is nothing like my old stuff was / and neither one
is much when compared to the show / which will not be as good as another one
you saw” and mean it. And he notes, in lyrics that chart his self-destructive
tendencies as readily as his self-deprecating ones, that he never thought he’d
live to be as old as he is and that it’s “too late to die young now” as he’s
knocking on 40’s door. And he moves directly from there into a story that helps
illuminate this idea, “Tillamook County Jail,” where he came “down on vacation
/ gonna leave on probation” and is hoping of his girlfriend that “she's not so
mad now that she doesn't even pay my bail.”
And though common-man stories of
drinking and hell-raising run throughout the record (and his career), it’s not
all he does, as in the album’s centerpiece and probably its best song, “The
Ballad of the Kingsmen.” The song refers back to the public scare about the
supposedly obscene words of the Kinsgmen’s classic “Louie Louie” that went all
the way up to an FBI investigation and draws that forward to Columbine and the
tendency of many pundits to blame youth violence on music and the arts. In addition
to his own copyrights, all of which are worth hearing and which I’ll leave you
to discover on your own (and make a special quick note for the great “Sunshine”),
Snider nails three covers here. In ascending order of favorites: Billy Joe
Shaver’s “Good News Blues,” as funny/catchy as any of Snider’s songs with a
great intro thanking Shaver personally for saving him from getting shot in a
dive bar; Fred Eaglesmith’s “Alcohol and Pills,” a great tune that finds Snider
again copping to a lifestyle that claimed Hank Williams, Elvis, Jimi, Janis,
and others; and “Enjoy Yourself,” the album’s closer and summary statement, a
hit for Guy Lombardo in 1950 that follows on the heels of “Sunshine” and takes
that song (and this album)’s note of moving beyond the bad shit in your life
and remembering to – you guessed it – “enjoy yourself while you’re still in the
pink.” It’s a lovely memento mori to
close things out – light, not somber, funny and smart.
Now I’ve seen Snider three more
times solo, plus once more with the Hard Working Americans, I’ve got all the
albums – including an essential pair of live ones that give you a taste of his
between-song patter that’s often as good as the songs themselves – and I’m
totally sold. I even bought his autobiography, which once you’re familiar with
the personality that’s behind the songs you really will want to check out. And
the other records Christgau gave an ‘A’ to – The Devil You Know and Agnostic
Hymns and Stoner Fables – both as good as this one, or maybe even a hair
better. Check ‘em out. But the next record might be different and better than
the last one, and probably neither of them is much compared to the live show….
-
Patrick Brown
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