By Kevin Koeninger
Peruse any number of music magazines’ top albums of 2006, and you’re sure to come across Todd Snider’s “The Devil You Know.”
Rolling Stone writer Christian Hoard calls it “the country-folk record of your lit-major dreams,” as well as placing it at #33 on the magazine’s top 50 albums of the year.
After releasing the album, Snider is now embarking on a cross country tour, making one of his first stops in Louisville. The show is set for Fri., Jan. 26, at Headliner’s Music Hall. Presale tickets are currently on sale for $12. Tickets at the show will be $14, and opening for Snider will be Cory Branan.
In addition to touring, Snider has also made appearances on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Late Show with David Letterman.
Praised by such folk/country icons as Kris Kristofferson and John Prine, Snider is described by Robert Christgau of Blender as “a tough-‘n’- tender singer-songwriter who convinces the roadhouse crowd he’s a hang-loose rogue.” More simply, Snider is a throwback to raw country music; a shift away from the glossy, overproduced records that have so recently dominated the country charts.
And while Snider sees the world from a humorous angle, don’t be fooled; he is a serious songwriter at heart. Of his new album, said that it “was a reaction living in a country at war, but I didn’t want to do the typical war stuff … So with that in mind, I pulled the camera back and found poverty under certainty of religion.”
By crafting honest, poignant and almost always funny tunes, Snider comes off as a trustworthy narrator through which to hear the stories of the world.
For more information, visit Snider’s Web site www.toddsnider.net or www.headlinerslouisville.com.
