- Todd Snider
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Todd Snider 
Todd Snider at Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas (2008).Background information Born October 11, 1966 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
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 a 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
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]
Discography
Albums
Year Album Chart Positions US US Heat US Indie 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 Singles
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
Year Video Director 1995 "Alright Guy"[6] Jim Shea References
- ^ 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 9780879307608. http://books.google.com/?id=LdxCPLZAExsC&pg=PA699&lpg=PA699&dq=%22Todd+Snider%22
- ^ Chris. Willman (2005). Rednecks & Bluenecks: the politics of country music. ISBN 1595580174
- ^ "Error: no
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|title=specified when using {{Cite web}}". http://www.toddsnider.net/fr_bio.cfm. - ^ http://www.jambase.com/Articles/25128/Todd-Snider-The-Storyteller
- ^ "CMT : Videos : Jim Shea : Alright Guy". Country Music Television. http://www.cmt.com/videos/todd-snider/306246/alright-guy.jhtml. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
External links
- Todd Snider official page
- EighteenMinutes.com - The Todd Snider Archives
- Todd Snider Feature and CD reviews at Country Standard Time
- Interview from honesttune.com
- Interview on AmericanaRoots.com
- Interview June 2009 on NPR
Categories:- 1966 births
- American agnostics
- American country singers
- American male singers
- American country musicians
- American folk singers
- American singer-songwriters
- Musicians from Portland, Oregon
- Living people
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