SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artists
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Todd Snider
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Todd Snider strolls on stage barefoot, guitar in hand with his trademark Cheshire grin. He is packing a career's worth of songs and stories that are as brazenly bold, witty and poignant as they are honest. His humble introduction is a rushed aw’ shucks delivery, “Hi, I’m Todd Snider. I’ve been driving around in a van for 15 years making this sh*t up. I'm just stringing words together and trying to rhyme. Thanks for listening.” His personality and charisma could fill a stadium and has won him a cult following who travel past state lines to see him live.
On "Age Like Wine," the opening track of Snider's new CD, "East Nashville Skyline" (Oh Boy Records) Todd sums up his fifteen year career, "I've had seven managers, five record labels, 1000 pics and patch cables, a band, three vans...cans and cans of beer, bottles of booze, bags of weed and thousands of other things I forgot..." What he fails to mention is the seven releases starting with 1994's "Songs From the Daily Planet" and thousands of stellar live performances and tours that capture a rock star disguised as a singer-songwriter. Everyone from Jerry Jeff Walker and Jimmy Buffet to Mark Chestnut and Garth Brooks has covered Todd’s songs over the years. He is hailed by his songwriting contemporaries as one of the best performers and writers on the circuit today. With "East Nashville Skyline" Todd says that the songs are all true stories about true people that he lives around and plays music with. He covers Billy Joe Shaver’s “Good News Blues” to show his gratitude to Billy Joe for talking a guy out of killing Todd one day at the Idle Hour. Todd has been open with his fans and colleagues about his battles with substance abuse and says that he uses songwriting as therapy. "Songwriting helps me through my life, shows me how to feel things closer, know people better, heal faster, improve myself, notice more and laugh harder." |
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TECHNOLOGY PARTNER
