Todd Snider

Todd Snider at Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas (2008).
Background information
Born (1966-10-11) October 11, 1966 (age 45)
Origin Portland, Oregon, United States
Genres Americana, Alt-country, Folk-rock
Occupations Singer, songwriter
Years active 1994–present
Labels Aimless Records
Website www.toddsnider.net

Todd Daniel Snider (born October 11, 1966 in Portland, Oregon)[1][2] is an American singer-songwriter with a musical style that combines Americana, alt-country, and folk.

Contents

Biography [link]

Singer-songwriter Todd Snider was born October 11, 1966, in Portland, Ore., and lived there until his family moved to Houston. When he was 15, he ran away from home with a friend and went back to Portland. After high school, he moved to Santa Rosa, Calif., to be a harmonica player. Then his brother, who lived in Austin, Texas, bought him a ticket to move there. After seeing Jerry Jeff Walker in a local bar, Snider decided that he didn't need a band to be a musician.[3]

After moving to Memphis in the mid-1980s and establishing residency at a club named the Daily Planet, he was discovered by Keith Sykes, a member of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. A longtime acquaintance of John Prine and Walker, Sykes began to work with Snider to help advance his career. Prine hired him as an assistant and then invited him to open shows. In time, Buffett heard Snider's demo tapes and signed him to his own label. Snider is an opinionated musician whose fans know him to be quite the workhorse. On his music, Snider has said "I was just trying to come up with the best... most open hearted ... well-thought-out lyrics I could come up with. I wanted every song to be sad and funny at the same time, vulnerable and entertaining at the same time, personal and universal at the same time. I wanted every song to be as uniquely written as possible and then I wanted to perform them in a studio loose and rugged and hopefully as uniquely as I could. My hope is to be hard to describe and/or new…I'm not saying I am. I'm just saying that's the hope."[4]

Career [link]

Snider's 1994 debut album on MCA, entitled Songs for the Daily Planet, was named for the bar where Snider used to play regularly in Memphis. On that album were the minor hits "Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues"—a folk song about the early '90's grunge scene, featuring a band that "refused to play" —and "Alright Guy," which later became the title cut of Gary Allan's 2001 album.

He released two more albums for MCA, Step Right Up and Viva Satellite before moving to John Prine's Oh Boy Records where he made Happy to Be Here, New Connection, Near Truths and Hotel Rooms, East Nashville Skyline, and Peace Love and Anarchy. That Was Me: The Best of Todd Snider 1994–1998 was released on the Hip-O Records label in August 2005.

Snider's next studio album, The Devil You Know, was released in August 2006. It marked his return to a major label, New Door Records, a subsidiary of Universal Records. The Devil You Know was named to several critics' year-end "best" lists, including a #33 ranking in Rolling Stone magazine's top 50 albums of the year, a #25 ranking by No Depression magazine, and #14 by Blender magazine.

Snider's album, Peace Queer, was released on October 14, 2008 and reached #1 on the Americana Airplay Chart on October 27, 2008. His album, The Excitement Plan, was released on June 9, 2009 on the YepRoc Label and was produced by Don Was.

Snider contributed a cover version of A Boy Named Sue to the 2010 Sugar Hill Records album Twistable Turnable Man, a tribute by various artists to songwriter Shel Silverstein.

Snider's songs "Late Last Night" and "I Believe You" have been recorded by the Oklahoma red dirt band Cross Canadian Ragweed. He co-wrote the song "Barbie Doll" with country star Jack Ingram.

In February 2011 Todd Snider released a double disc live album called "The Storyteller" on his own record label Aimless Records. The album features live versions of songs spanning much of Snider's career along with some of the stories that have become a staple of his live show.[5]

In April 2012, Todd Snider released two albums. The original, Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables, and a tribute album, Time As We Know It: The Songs Of Jerry Jeff Walker. The latter album is an homage to country singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker. American Songwriter claims, "Snider has been carrying on Walker’s scraggly Texas-styled country/Americana tradition since he started."[6]

Discography [link]

Albums [link]

Year Album Peak chart positions
US
[7]		 US Heat
[8]		 US Indie
[9]		 US Rock
[10]		 US Folk
[11]
1994 Songs for the Daily Planet — 23 — — —
1996 Step Right Up — — — — —
1998 Viva Satellite — — — — —
2000 Happy to Be Here — — — — —
2002 New Connection — — 45 — —
2003 Near Truths and Hotel Rooms — — — — —
2004 East Nashville Skyline — 44 28 — —
2005 That Was Me: The Best of Todd Snider 1994–1998 — — — — —
2006 The Devil You Know 173 4 — — —
2007 Peace Love and Anarchy
(Rarities, B-Sides, & Demos, Vol. 1)		 — — — — —
Live with the Devil You Know (Grimey's - Nashville) — — — — —
The Devil You Know DVD — — — — —
2008 Peace Queer — 8 44 — —
2009 The Excitement Plan 144 6 31 — —
2011 Todd Snider Live: The Storyteller — 7 36 — —
2012 Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables 95 — 15 23 6
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles [link]

Year Single Chart Positions Album
US MSR CAN AC
1994 "Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues" 31 — Songs for the Daily Planet
"This Land is Our Land" — —
1995 "Alright Guy" — 33
1996 "I Believe You" — — Step Right Up
"Late Last Night" — —

Music videos [link]

Year Video Director
1995 "Alright Guy"[12] Jim Shea

References [link]

  1. ^ Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2003). All Music Guide to Country: the definitive guide to country music By Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-760-8. https://books.google.com/?id=LdxCPLZAExsC&pg=PA699&lpg=PA699&dq=%22Todd+Snider%22 
  2. ^ Chris. Willman (2005). Rednecks & Bluenecks: the politics of country music. ISBN 1-59558-017-4 
  3. ^ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". https://www.jambase.com/Artists/14299/Todd-Snider/Bio. 
  4. ^ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". https://www.toddsnider.net/fr_bio.cfm. 
  5. ^ https://www.jambase.com/Articles/25128/Todd-Snider-The-Storyteller
  6. ^ "Todd Snider: Time As We Know It - The Songs Of Jerry Jeff Walker". American Songwriter. https://www.americansongwriter.com/2012/04/todd-snider-time-as-we-know-it-the-songs-of-jerry-jeff-walker. Retrieved 10 April 2012. 
  7. ^ "Todd Snider Album & Song Chart History - Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. https://www.billboard.com/charts#/artist/todd-snider/chart-history/36924?f=305&g=Albums. Retrieved March 15, 2012. 
  8. ^ "Todd Snider Album & Song Chart History - Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. https://www.billboard.com/charts#/artist/todd-snider/chart-history/36924?f=324&g=Albums. Retrieved March 15, 2012. 
  9. ^ "Todd Snider Album & Song Chart History - Independent Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. https://www.billboard.com/charts#/artist/todd-snider/chart-history/36924?f=326&g=Albums. Retrieved March 15, 2012. 
  10. ^ "Todd Snider Album & Song Chart History - Rock Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. https://www.billboard.com/charts#/artist/todd-snider/chart-history/36924?f=408&g=Albums. Retrieved March 15, 2012. 
  11. ^ "Todd Snider Album & Song Chart History - Folk Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. https://www.billboard.com/charts#/artist/todd-snider/chart-history/36924?f=1071&g=Albums. Retrieved March 15, 2012. 
  12. ^ "CMT : Videos : Jim Shea : Alright Guy". Country Music Television. https://www.cmt.com/videos/todd-snider/306246/alright-guy.jhtml. Retrieved September 30, 2011. 

External links [link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Todd Snider

https://wn.com/Todd_Snider

Podcasts:

Todd Snider

ALBUMS

Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables

Released 2012

Todd Snider Live: The Storyteller

Released 2011

The Excitement Plan

Released 2009

Peace Queer

Released 2008

Peace, Love and Anarchy

Released 2007

The Devil You Know

Released 2006

Countryfried

Released 2004

East Nashville Skyline

Released 2004

Near Truths and Hotel Rooms

Released 2003

New Connection

Released 2002

Happy to Be Here

Released 2000

Viva Satellite

Released 1998

Step Right Up

Released 1996

Songs for the Daily Planet

Released 1994

Happy New Year Vol. I

Todd Sings Prine

That Was Me 1994 - 1998

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PLAYLIST TIME:

Some Things Are

by: Todd Snider

He took the kid to see a doctor on the other side of town
Signed in with a nurse and sat down
The boy played with toys on the waiting room floor
He tried to read a paper that he read before
The doctor will see you now is not what that means
It's a smaller room with even less magazines
Where you wait around another hour it seems
Like an hour, Lord it seems like an hour
All the days go by
No real point in wondering why
You can't undo what's done
No matter how hard you try
Some things are the way they are
Cause some things are the way they are
Love will be enough
He met the boy's mama when they were both young
The kid come along and then another two sons
Together they had weathered what hardships came
But this kind of trouble, it wasn't the same
So much seemed to be depending on this
The doctor come in looking down that list
Made a little small talk, stuck the needle in
Drew a little blood and was gone again
The kid cried and pulled close to the old man's side
It was then he realized
It didn't matter
All the days go by
No real point in wondering why
You can't undo what's done
No matter how hard you try
Some things are the way they are
Cause some things are the way they are
The truth of the matter come crashing in
Long before the doctor come back again
That the truth didn't matter whether or not he knew it
True love matters and that's all there is to it
True love matters and that's all there is to it
So when the doctor come back with his glasses pushed low
And said, "We run the test and here's what they show"
He said, "Wait, doc, let me pay you and go
I don't need to know, I don't need to know."
All the days go by
No real point in wondering why
You can't undo what's done
No matter how hard you try
Some things are the way they are
Cause some things are the way they are
Love will be enough




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