“Back in the late 80’s, I was playing an afternoon show at a festival. Backstage was Billy White Shoes Johnson, myself, Alejandro Escovedo, Jerry Jeff Walker, Weird Al Yankovic and some odd -looking friend of his began playing a simple little poker game that, in my opinion, spun way out of control. When we started talking about the single Elton John had put out with Kiki Dee entitled “Don’t Go Breaking my Heart”, things did indeed get ugly between Alejandro and Weird Al Yankovic’s friend. ” – story as told by Todd Snider
Todd Snider should be (maybe already is) considered one of the best storytellers of his generation. The 40-something folk rocker could never sing again, and just sit on a stool onstage, and talk, and he would be great. I’ve never seen him completely screw up a story; it iseither funny, heartfelt, happy-with-reservations, soul-baring or inflammatory, and always brilliantly told. Most of the time, it is three of those things at the same time.
His new live album, The Storyteller, wraps itself around both the stories without music – and the stories with.
Snider exchanged email’s with No Depression’s Hal Bogerd talked, and Snider (as shown in the opening passage to this blog post, taken from that interview) keeps his internal screw just a little loose, on purpose or not, and is endearingly intelligent and happily hippie.
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