Viva Todd Snider
It was a great send-off for Todd last night. It may be trite to say there was “a lotta love in the room,” but that’s how it was. I’m sure some people were crying, but I never saw any.
Shamus Bacon (Todd’s longtime road manager [in the old days]) started the night with “Double-Wild Blues.”
It was a treat to hear 400 people singing the high note at the end. He did three more songs and then came up (of all people) Rodney Crowell. He sang one of the two covers all night, “Ain’t Living Long Like This.” I thought about how Todd conducted himself for most of his life and said to myself, well, that IS an appropriate choice. (The other cover was “Enjoy Yourself” sung by the most radiant woman there, Molly Thomas. She was Todd’s longtime fiddle player. We all did Leno and Letterman together a couple of decades ago.)
I can’t say who was the highlight because EVERYONE was a highlight. Jack Ingram, Hayes Carll, Keith Sykes, Chuck Mead, Kevin Gordon, and I’ll brag – I didn’t do too bad myself. I sang “Long Year” and “Alright Guy.”
The band was terrific. Will Kimbrough (who put the band together) and Audley Freed on guitars, Robert Kearns on bass, a nice fella whose name escapes me on keyboards, and Steve Ebe on drums. It was the best band Todd never had.
The last tune was an all-skate – everybody onstage singing “I Shall be Released.” Okay, that’s THREE covers.
Here is the set list. Lastly, I must say it was as good a send off Todd could have wanted. A beautiful night. And the audience sang along with seemingly every word.
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: The Lyrics Only Todd Could Write and here: Todd Snider: One of One and our interviews of Todd here: Interview: Todd Snider on Cash Cabin Sessions, Dreams and Songwriting here: Key to the Highway: Todd Snider and here: Interview: Todd Snider on Returning to the Devil’s Backbone Tavern, Cash Cabin Vol. III, and Life Imitating Jerry Jeff Walker
