According to a classic Neil Young song about rock stars, "It’s better to burn out than to fade away." Young was around when some of his early contemporaries — Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison, among others — ironically achieved a kind of immortality by dying at the height of their careers. It’s harder to say where Todd Snider stood in his career when he died of pneumonia last year, just weeks after an unfortunate incident in Salt Lake City.
Snider was a gifted storyteller in the folk-country tradition, equally at home with hilarious novelty songs, biting sarcasm, sharp political commentary and heartfelt ballads. He also had a knack for celebrating life’s antiheroes, often with himself among them. However you look at it, he seemed to live by those Neil Young lyrics, leaving his fans with a body of work that still feels unfinished.
An early live performance of Snider’s lampoon of the grunge scene, Talking Seattle Grunge Blues, captures his irreverent humor.
Snider's final release, High, Lonesome, and Then Some, marked something of a departure. His voice was gruffer than usual, at times taking on a Tom Waits quality, and the songs leaned toward melancholy. Snider was also dealing with chronic pain, reportedly related in part to years of hard living and hard partying. After the Salt Lake City incident and a subsequent illness, his tour was canceled after just one show. A few weeks later, he was gone, with more music still to make.
But Snider left behind the beginnings of another album. According to his producers, about 70 percent of My Second Rodeo, released October 9, was ready when he died. Collaborators Joe Bisirri and Robbie Crowell brought it across the finish line using voice memos, notes and demos he’d left behind.
Snider’s vision was to imagine what country music might sound like ten years in the future. The result, hinted at on High, Lonesome, and Then Some, is a world away from today’s glossy Nashville production. The arrangements feel organic and rooted in older traditions, with a swampy feel and New Orleans-inspired horns on several tracks.
Snider recorded his vocals and guitar at home, deliberately working without a click-track to keep time. The band then played along with those recordings in the studio, giving the songs a lived-in quality. You can hear the musicians responding to the performances, creating a raw, spontaneous energy that runs throughout the album.
The opening track, Freewheelin’ (Every Day at a Time), feels like an apt introduction to the album — and perhaps an accidental epitaph for a troubadour who lived close to the edge and struggled with both the law and substance use. Snider sings: “I left home bound for glory. Fought my way, tooth and nail. Fought my way from just another likely story to a cautionary tale.”
His rebellious spirit surfaces again on two related tracks, The Manifesto and One Nation Under Fire, which take aim at society and politics with the irreverence and skepticism that defined so much of his work.
There are also a couple of tongue-in-cheek songs about country music itself. Solid Country Gold returns to one of the genre’s favorite subjects — country music. Snider sketches a honky-tonk and its patrons, then imagines the kind of song that could unite the whole room — even if a fight is about to break out.
The title track takes a more pointed swipe at the genre’s clichés. With just one verse, it feels unfinished, but its statement lands true: “Here comes a cowboy in a pick-up truck with a kick ass country song jacked up about a cowboy in a pick-up truck with a kick ass country song jacked up.” It’s classic Snider — a line that's both a parody of country songwriting and a jab at how easily the genre can recycle itself.
It’s impossible to know whether Snider’s vision of country music’s future will play out. Will the flashy lights and highly polished pop of this decade give way to something humbler, rootsier and more organic? Unfortunately, we won’t have Todd Snider around to lead that charge, but a big dose of his attitude, grit and style would sure be a step in the right direction.
Hear tunes from My Second Rodeo next week on Open Air — weekdays, 9am-3pm on JPR's Rhythm and News Service.