Taking It Easy With Hard-Working Todd Snider

The supergroup includes Dave Schools (Widespread Panic) on bass, Neal Casal (Ryan Adams, Chris Robinson Brotherhood) on guitars, Duane Trucks (Widespread Panic) on drums, Chad Staehly (Great American Taxi) on keys, and Jesse Aycock (Jesse Aycock Band) on lap steel.

And then there’s Todd Snider, the main songwriter who has had a decades-long career as a folk singer and who, in his own words, has been bummin’ around this country singing to anyone who would listen. He has a ton of great songs, some of which even the casual listener knows (cough: “Beer Run”) and is also known for his storytelling skills. That and, as the Washington Post said, he “may be the most likeable man in music.”

To set up this interview, we wanted to let him know that, yes, Pollstar was well aware of his music, including the song “Ballad of the Devil’s Backbone Tavern” and, of course the story behind the tune.

The song itself is about a bar in Texas and its owner, Miss Vergie. The story that precedes the song is about how Snider learned to play guitar after seeing Jerry Jeff Walker and how Snider became friends with a 6’ 8” 300-pound guy named Trog who let him sleep on his couch, played manager and drove Snider to his first gig in Luckenbach, Texas, before they got lost and found themselves playing at the Devil’s Backbone Tavern. It’s a great story.  

“That makes me happy. Thank you!” Snider said, followed by, “We just lost Trog a couple weeks ago.”

Not only is Trog a real person, but apparently he was 52 before he succumbed to kidney cancer.   

“I think.” Snider said. “He may have had cancer and then his kidneys failed. But I got to spend some time with him. Hopefully he wasn’t in pain.”

So, that’s one way to start an interview. That doesn’t mean it didn’t take a few more turns.

Well, I just wanted to make it clear that I’m aware of your career and how you created it versus what you’re doing now.  Any comparison or contrast?

I think the main thing is it gives me an artistic outlet in addition to the one I already have.

In my past experiences, one always seems to help the other. It feels the more artistic stuff I can get involved in, the more I feel I can hone in on all the artistic stuff I’m involved in.  And then, with that said, I’ve always felt like the main thing music can do, or the deepest thing it can do, is get people to lower their inhibitions enough to move around and dance. 

I’ve always thought that, and I’ve always felt the deepest person in the band was probably the drummer, or the one saying the most.  I always thought words and lyrics were going to be my best opportunity to be as close to that flame as I could be. I gravitated toward people who could make words work together because that was the only talent that I had and I also fell in love with that, as well.

I still like it very much.  I like both.  I like rock ‘n’ roll; I like the Stones.  And when I go to the Stones, I like every solitary inch of it. But if you want to send me out to go see someone read Stones lyrics I would love that too.  And if you [wanted] me to go see Bobby Keys play solo sax without lyrics, I would [have] love that too.

So if you’re talking about the big picture, the stadium moving to music, there’s a ton of different ways to contribute to that.

So I feel kind of like a Ramblin’ Jack Elliott-type person who got invited to play in a band and didn’t want to say no.

(That led to one of the interviewer’s lame stories because, of all things, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott recently deciding to “join” a yacht club. He actually dropped by one in Petaluma, Calif., out of the blue and was adopted by the dozen people who hang out there. Now he swings by every few months.)

So my brother is part of a yacht club in Petaluma …

Hold on!  Brian!  Didn’t we drive by the Petaluma Yacht Club a week ago? He’s telling a story and I want to say we drove right by it!

It’s walking distance from the Mystic Theatre.

Oh yeah! Then we probably walked right past it!  Yeah, I love Ramblin’ Jack. He’s been really good to me in my life. I see him about once or twice a year.

Actually, I should say I feel kind of like a Ramblin’ Jack Elliott-type person who got invited to dance and didn’t want to say no just because he didn’t know how. I don’t think you need to know how to dance to do it.

Haha. Ok, so …

It’s not that I dance though.  I mostly stand there like Ronnie Van Zant.

But I take acid for it too. It’s a jam band so I usually take shrooms or acid and hold onto that mic stand for dear life and I just sing for three minutes and I’m back in the audience for about 10 minutes. It feels like I’m mostly in the audience because I used to, on my days off, I would be in front rows and dancing in the crowd to either Widespread Panic or Chris Robinson. I guess you could call it a hobby. Jam bands were sort of my other passion that I had.

And now I’m a way better guitar player than I was than I was two years ago because of these guys.  I like that to think I’m getting better at making up melodies too but that’s in the ear of the beholder.

But if I’m studying and working on it and it’s a bigger part of this world – you know, with folk music you can just talk sometimes if you want.  But I was working on some songs with Peter Buck today and those melodies, his melodies, you can hardly – I mean, he made up a melody last year and I couldn’t stop singing it all day and all last night. I wish I could do that.

Peter Buck? You’re in Portland right now, right?

He has a really cool house here, with a bunch of great guitars in it.

What a bitchin’ lifestyle.  I didn’t hang out with Peter Buck last night.

(Laughs) I have to do it this way or I’ll starve. I have to make up songs and I’m grateful … I worked myself into that corner.

On the other hand, I totally woke up this morning thinking, “I got to sit around and listen to and talk to Peter Buck last night!”  I can’t believe it either!  I get to go back there again today and I have to think up some more R.E.M. questions.

It’s funny that …

But it’s not like we’re old buddies! I’ve met him a few times through Kevn Kinney and Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ and then I knew I was going to be out here for a week so I sent Kevn a note to see if Peter might be interested in writing, or just jam, or get high or anything because I love him, or even wash his car if that’s what he wanted me to do. 

He said, “Come on over,” and we started pickin’ and I feel like I’m making a friend. So I didn’t mean to make it sound like, “Yeah, I can just bop out to Peter’s house” or “Yeah, I get to hang with Peter Buck. He’s fond of me and we’re going to Australia.” It’s is exciting to me to be around him.

Not only did Prince die yesterday, but so did Lonnie Mack.

Wow! “Oreo Cookie Blues.”  My brother turned me onto him. My brother’s an agent. Isn’t Pollstar like an agent magazine?  He books MercyMe for one of the big companies.  I’m not sure what they’re called.

The Christian band?

He’s a badass. Our reputations are polar but we hang out. We have fun.

(Of course, we had to check this out. Turns out the “big company” that Mike Snider works for is WME Nashville where he handles of roster of about 25 acts that includes MercyMe, Jeremy Camp, Switchfoot, Rend Collective and Kirk Franklin. Back in the ‘90s, Mike Snider worked for Al Bunetta, co-founder of Oh Boy Records and longtime manager for John Prine and … Todd Snider.

“I worked in Al’s office doing day-to-day and tour managing for Todd,” Mike told Pollstar. “Before that I worked out of the Margaritaville office with Bob Mercer, who’s since passed. Al passed away last year. Both very sad.”

From there, Mike got into Christian music and bought the Vanguard Agency where he and his wife (they weren’t dating at the time) changed the name to Third Coast Artists Agency (where Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild was once employed). Currently, he’s celebrating a resurgence of MercyMe’s popularity.  By the way, Mike also shows up in the story of the “Ballad of the Devil’s Backbone Tavern.” As for Bob Mercer? Well, that would be the “KK Rider Story.”  Anyway, back to Hard Working Americans.)

You have a lot of touring ahead. Any differences between touring with a band and touring on your own?

I like the idea it’s a team, you know?   

Well, you get better catering.

I actually don’t know about that because I don’t have to share anything when I’m on my own!

And if I’m on tour by myself, it’s just two of us on a bus. When it’s a band tour, there are 10 people on the bus. But sometimes it gets lonely by yourself.  I love touring by myself; it’s my life sport. But when I get to do it as a team and not the leader – just a group of people – our intention is to hopefully make 90 minutes of some people’s lives to provide them a distraction from their impending doom. And, really, I like the idea of, like, “I’m in a group of people and the show starts at 8 and we hope you dance and if you don’t we didn’t get what we wanted.” 

It’s real simple. I feel like the show that I do isn’t censored or concise. I feel like a smaller part of a bigger thing with a band and, solo, that’s just people listening to words. I think that’s good but in a band show you can listen to words and there’s a lot of other things. I like watching the crowd entertain itself. It’s joyous.

Upcoming dates for Hard Working Americans:

May 14 – Chicago, Ill., Park West
May 15 – Columbus, Ohio, Park Street Saloon
May 17 – New York, N.Y., The Gramercy Theatre
May 18 – Boston, Mass., Paradise Rock Club
May 20 – Alexandria, Va., The Birchmere
May 21 – Richmond, Va., The National
May 22 – Raleigh, N.C., Lincoln Theatre
May 24 – Asheville, N.C., The Orange Peel
May 25 – Memphis, Tenn., Minglewood Hall
May 26 – St. Louis, Mo., Old Rock House
May 27 – Kansas City, Mo., Knuckleheads
May 28 – Chillicothe, Ill., Three Sisters Park (Summer Camp Music Festival)
May 29 – Chillicothe, Ill., Three Sisters Park (Summer Camp Music Festival)
May 30 – Nashville, Tenn., Downtown Nashville

The band also appears at ARISE Music Festival in Loveland, Colo., and LOCKN’ Festival in Arrington, Va., in August.

Rest In Chaos, which was produced by Dave Schools, is due out May 13. The album features 12 original songs and a cover of Guy Clark’s “The High Price of Inspiration.” The band is streaming a new song every 48 hours until the release date, starting with “Roman Candles.”

Visit TheHardWorkingAmericans.com for more information and follow the band on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.