Introducing Todd Snider

It’s about time that I got around to telling you about my favorite folk singer, songwriter, storyteller, humorist, goof ball. For a long time I couldn’t figure out if he was just a goof ball or a total genius, now that I’ve known him long enough that I’ve settled on Fuckin’ Incredible Genius.

If you want to find out what he’s like in a concert setting listen to Near Truths and Motel Rooms, his only live recording. It gets across his one of his strengths, rapport with the audience. He has a talent for working the crowd, disarming them with innate charm and humor. You will never understand Todd until you see him live. Mostly he performs solo, just him and his guitar, putting you through a range of more emotions than you thought possible. By the end of the show he will have everyone singing along, I guarantee. I enjoy his live shows so much that we saw him eight times in one year (don’t tell Brad).

But that doesn’t begin to tell the whole story. His genius is keen observation of life around him. He can reach into your heart with songs like "All That Matters," a song for his wife on his latest album, The Devil You Know. It touches me deeply when he quietly croons, "I can’t dance, but I feel like dancing, not with anyone, only you."

Also, "Waco Moon" and "Play a Train Song," are emotional odes to his wild friends who died young. He can do sly political commentary on songs like "Conservative Christian Right Wing Republican Straight White American Male" or "You Got Away With It." Barn-burning heavy rockers like "The Devil You Know" and "45 Miles" (I remind you, alone on a stage with only a guitar). And then there are the hysterically funny and popular songs "Beer Run" and "Alright Guy."

Go to his website: ToddSnider.net and watch some of the videos. He's the best musician that you've never heard of. Rolling Stone magazine put his recording of The Devil You Know as one of the Top 50 Best Albums of the Year. While he comes across as slightly befuddled, scraggly, and he readily admits to heavy drinking and pot smoking, it is all a cover for what lies beneath: shear fucking genius.