“I'm just happy to be here at all.”
- Todd Snider
I just received word of the death of one of our all-time great troubadours, Todd Snider. Details are sketchy and unclear. More will be revealed, but regardless, it's a shock.
Todd Snider, 59, has long been one of my songwriting heroes. There is no one to compare him to. His folkie, alt-rocker songs were hilarious, insightful and poignant and he was absolutely THE best storyteller we have ever had among us. If you ever saw him live, you know. Sometimes, in introducing a song, he might spin a ten-minute yarn to set you up for the tune. He was the master. He wrote a book called, I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like: Mostly True Tall Tales filled with situations only Todd could find himself in, told in the way only he could tell them.
Todd found his way to Memphis in the early 90s by way of Oregon and Texas. He ended up playing regularly at a bar downtown called The Daily Planet. That's where he first came to my attention. His first album released in 1994 was titled Songs From the Daily Planet. Shortly after that he made his way to East Nashville where he stuck.
I can recite many of his song lyrics top to bottom, laughing and marveling at how he made it all work. And though humor is what he's most identified with, he could break your heart in a song just as easily as make you chuckle.
I'm rattled by this news. The only way I know how to deal is to play a songs.