You all know by now my penchant for owning the physical disc.  Even when times are hard.  I’d love to tell you it’s because my high morals won’t allow me to copy OPD’s (other people’s discs) but, well, I just really like to peel off the wrappers and pop out the pretty inserts and stuff. 

And, I do like to cuss the postal system when it’s late, cuss the state of our society because there are no independent music stores – you know, get myself a little worked up.  Then, when I finally get my hands on the actual item, I run my fingers over the lyrics booklet, read the dedication and thank yous and all before I listen from track one to the very end.

From the moment I sussed out the info that Steve Earle was releasing "Townes", I knew I’d have to have that one.  It’s a forever keeper.  And, Guy Clark’s "Sometimes the Song Writes You" was getting multiple rave reviews before I’d ever heard of it, so I internet-ordered that.  Kris Kristofferson’s "Closer to the Bone" kept me camped out by the mailbox for a while.  Well worth the frostbite, though. 

Guy’s song "The Guitar" gets my vote for song of the year.  I’ve played it for everyone I know.  I ordered the double-disc-deal of Kristofferson.  I knew I’d beat myself up if I didn’t and sure enough, the live bonus disc was a delightful trip through an Ireland concert and Silver Tongued Devil tripped me all the way back to the seventies.  And Kris commented (I love to hear him talk) that his very young son had told him that was NOT a good song.  "Why?"  "You’re just blaming your problems on somebody else!"  Brilliant kid!  Yes, that IS what the 70′s were all about!

Digress?  No, details are important.  Ask Simone Felice.  Keep an eye on those Felice boys.  I think they’re up to something.  Check out The Duke and The King’s "Nothing Gold Can Stay."  Then find the backstory on that.  Simone was one sad mofo when he wrote some of these songs.  The other Felice Brothers put out "Yonder is the Clock" this year.  I like every album they’ve released and this one was no exception.  It’s fantastic.  I picked up a copy for a friend.  If you miss the opportunity to see this band live, you might die with an incomplete musical education.  Kinda like the live George Thorogood show, only not.  Not at all.  Just go see them.  Then all the songs make sense.

Hey, that Roseanne Cash chick is serious!  What a voice!  “The List” is a gently put together album of oldies that her daddy said should be saved.  She saved them.  Really nicely.  And, her harmony singers are no slouches, either.

Ah, what else?  Them Truckers!  On Austin City Limits!  What about that, huh?  And the release of The Fine Print was a delight.  Finally!  Beautiful!  And Wes Freed’s artwork rocks.  Read the reviews of The Fine Print on this site and a hundred others and you won’t find anything but praise for this perfectly lined-up collection of DBT songs old and new – funny (Mrs. Klaus’ Kimono-Patterson) and sad (Uncle Frank-Cooley) and touching (Thank God for the TVA-Jason Isbell). 

And speaking of which, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s self-titled, self-artworked CD/Album deal at the first of this year was a super standard-setter for all that followed.  What a pretty piece of work this is! 

2009 also brought the previously threatened Murdering Oscar by Patterson Hood..  He puts his all into all he does and does it with a devilish, literate sweetness that you just don’t accidently acquire.  Nobody had to teach Patterson how to don the rock star attitude.  He throws himself into the songs like real rock is his to save and his alone.  He’s up on that stage championing his cause more nights of the year than not and still knocks you upside the head with one brilliant song after another that he somehow finds time to scribble between his entertaining updates on the websites (alabamaasswhuppin.com and ninebullets.org) and all the worthy causes he supports..  (see Nuci’s Space).

Okay, what else?  The Gourds "Haymaker!.  And don’t miss Ryan Bingham’s Roadhouse Sun or anything that Gordy Quist and his Band of Heathens put out.  Oh, yeah, and Todd Snider’s new "Excitement Plan".  He should really be our national ambassador of good sense.  Him and McMurtry.

Y’all keep rockin’ on for another year.  I hear Deer Tick’s puttin’ out something good.  And Slobberbone is apt to make an appearance….somewhere…
I’m going to put on this new Drive By Truckers on Austin City Limits in 2009 CD and tell myself "it’s good to be alive", even though the economy sucks and we’re all eating Ramen way too often.  

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea that Cokie Roberts wrote this.

I’m sure it was nothing, probably just a fan who wanted to ask Todd Snider to play a favorite song. Or something.

But she definitely took the wrong approach Friday night at The Sons Of Hermann Hall.

As he was strapping on his guitar and getting ready to start his set, a lady got out of her front row seat and climbed up on the edge of the stage and said something to Todd , who looked kind of startled and stepped back So she tried to wave him over. He stepped back further and looked genuinely frightened and started to take off his guitar and harmonica when Dave Hixx, his stage manager, spotted the intruder and immediately grabbed her and pulled her off the stage.

Hixx then yelled “all the way out” as she was brusquely escorted out the door while her confused companion stood there looking like he wasn’t sure what to do.

It seemed like a fairly harsh over-reaction. I mean while the lady clearly wasn’t up on her live show etiquette, neither did she look threatening in any way, merely intrusive.

But she may well have seemed threatening to Todd. After his first song he explained about his stalker who was just arrested in Nashville on Wednesday. She had trespassed onto his property and scared the hell out of his house-sitter. After leaving Todd’s house, she apparently broke through a Presidential motorcade roadblock and even led police on a 20 minute chase.

Ironically, Todd was on the road to Dallas during all this.

He said after all that when he saw the woman get on the stage all he could think was (paraphrasing) “I’m getting the fuck out of here.”

I’m sure the lady at the Sons Friday wasn’t quite as deranged as Ashton but whatever was so pressing she had to jump on the stage to tell Todd as he was just about to start sure seemed to knock him off kilter. I think his performance suffered as a result. He did a fairly short set without ever really seeming to engage even though the crowd was solidly with him. There were no 18 minute rants, no “Play A Train Song” and the banter he did attempt seemed kind of distracted. After he played an encore of “Conservative Christian…” he was off the stage and out the door.

In case anyone didn’t already know (OK, there was one person there who didn’t) Todd also told us that if you want to tell him that you met his brother in Houston in 1983 or whatever, it’s kind of an after-the-show thing.

I sure hope she remembers that next time.

The Todd Snider show at the Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas Thursday night was called off at the last minute when word came that Todd’s flight out of Nashville was cancelled. Damn rain! We arrived early to find the handwritten sign pictured here tacked to the door.

I saw quite a few people leave unhappy but our little group thought, "What the hell?  We’re here, the opening act, The Amanda Shires Band, is still playing, there’s no cover and we can come back later in July and see Todd."  You know, wherever you go, there you are.

It turned out to be the best possible decision.

The night’s second surprise came when we walked into a near-empty Sons’ Ballroom and there, on the merchandise table, were a bunch of Rod Picott CDs next to Amanda’s self produced 2005 disc, "Being Brave." For those of you who don’t know, Rod Picott (pronounced pie-cot) is a talented and gravelly-voiced (in a Tom Waits-ish kind of way) singer songwriter. He’s also a favorite of SlackerCountry’s Naomi. She turned me onto him a couple years ago. Turns out that, for the time being at least, he’s also the acoustic guitarist and one third of The Amanda Shires Band. The other two thirds are Amanda Shires (Thrift Store Cowboys) on vocals and fiddle and local player Todd Pertll (Deadman) on pedal steel. Pertll also played some dobro and banjo.

The nicest surprise came when they started their set.

Shire’s voice is every bit as gorgeous as she is herself and her songs were surprisingly good. She sounds a little bit like Norah Jones – with some twang. She played subtle, melodic arrangements that accentuated her singing and fiddle playing perfectly.

She also seemed totally natural, unpretentious, and just exuded genuine, down to earth charm. She seemed a little surprised and grateful that anyone had hung around at all and even more surprised at the highly favorable audience response. I got the sense that everyone there was very happy they stayed.

Her set bore more resemblance to Thrift Store Cowboys than much of Being Brave. There are several of the songs she played live and they’re very nice on the record but there’s also some vaguely bluegrass, old timey-type fiddle instrumentals. It only hints at the talent she displayed at the Sons.

She played a short set, maybe forty five minutes, thanked everybody and started to exit the stage but the small crowd wasn’t having any of that. She ended up playing another five or six songs before turning it over to Picott . They closed with “Gun Shy Dog” from his ’04 release "Girl From Arkansas".

She was being encouraged to stay and play more but by that time they apparently had exhausted the trio’s repertoire.

I know a lot of people left that night pretty disappointed but to promoter Mike Snider’s credit, he made the best of the situation. For both Amanda Shires and the handful folks who stayed to check her out, it was ultimately a win-win. We got to hear a fresh new voice in an entirely new format play an extended set that wasn’t overshadowed by the ultra-talented Todd Snider, And I happen to know Amanda Shires made more than one table full of new fans. Oh, and if I heard correctly, she’ll be back again to open for Todd Snider at the rescheduled, July 20 show. I’d recommend getting there early if you’re going.

Soiled Dove, Denver, March 7, 2007

Todd Snider played Colorado last week: March 6 at Front Porch House Concerts in Boulder and March 7 at the larger more commercial Soiled Dove down in Denver. I was lucky enough to go to both shows and here’s what happened.

The Front Porch show was offered at a private residence north of Boulder by an extremely gracious couple who open their home to music lovers on a regular basis. The event started at 6. Guests were welcomed in for drinks and appetizers. We got there at 6:30 and the party was in full swing. Although we didn’t expect to know anyone there (we were wrong about that), the crowd was friendly and the conversations interesting. That’s because Todd Snider fans are fun to be around. We immediately found like-minded folks to talk to and even ran into an old friend from school days back in Tennessee.

Todd stayed in his tour bus across the street and didn’t venture in until show time. He said he was nervous – had never played a house party. I think the audience was maybe a bit too well behaved – no drunken demands for “Beer Run” issued forth the entire night but he gamely set about giving us a great show.

Due to some kind of fancy tequila that someone in the audience was generous enough to pass around, I can’t actually read the notes I assiduously scribbled down so, if you went to the show, please forgive me (for whatever I did or said) and send me any corrections you may have.

It was just Todd, his guitar, and his harmonica. And it was enough.

He played an initial set of about a dozen songs, including my favorite song “Play A Train Song,” “Alright Guy,” “Ballad of the Kingsmen” with an end of the song segue into “You Sexy Thing,” and, of course, “Beer Run.” He took about a half hour break and then played a bunch more.

Owing to the effects of the tequila, I was emboldened to actually approach Todd during the break and have a brief conversation – you can’t imagine a nicer, more interesting guy. Since I didn’t reveal to him that I was with “the press,” I guess that discussion is privileged information, pretty much.

I will say that it’s plenty weird to talk to an artist like Todd Snider. You know what I mean – you listen to these guys over and over again and collect all their records and, although you don’t know their deepest thoughts or anything, you do get sort of an idea of what they are about and you incorporate them into your life. On the other hand, of course, they know absolutely nothing about you. To them, you are just a stranger and you don’t want to be too scary. I hope I wasn’t but, given the tequila, I just don’t know.

After the break, he loosened up a bit and started taking requests. He played about fifteen more of his own songs (notably “Horseshoe Lake,” “Looking For A Job,” “Can’t Complain,” and “Easy Money”) but then said he wanted to play us some covers because “Anyone can play shit they know.” So he treated us to some John Prine, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Jo Shaver, and a most excellent rendition of Guy Clark’s “L.A. Freeway” which I hope he records some day so I can have it for myself. EighteenMinutes.com has the setlist.

The next night, the show was at the Soiled Dove down in Denver. I really wanted to go and I’m glad I did. Todd seemed more comfortable in front of the bigger crowd – I’m guessing because it wasn’t quite so intimate so he had more of a buffer. There were quite a few people there from the show the night before – Todd fans are hard core and it was fun running into some of my new best friends. You’re never alone at a Todd Snider concert.

Also, outside the venue, I scored a sweet free t-shirt from KCUV – the best radio station in Denver.

So, at the Soiled Dove, he played a lot of songs and told a lot of stories – some were the same from the night before but enough were different that it was well worth attending both shows. (Again the set list is on EighteenMinutes.com). And the songs that he did repeat were some of his best. And that’s not all. We also got to see Jeff Austin of Yonder Mountain String Band with his mandolin join Todd onstage for the last part of the show. Those guys should play together ALL THE TIME. Just saying. Best rendition of “Play A Train Song” that I ever did hear. And Todd really seemed to be having a good time at that point.

As an encore, Todd came out by himself and sang “Worst Case Scenario” all by himself. Check out the lyrics here. It was a funny, yet sympathetic look at celebrities acting up. He was laughing at them but he was also laughing with them. Pretty cool. And the audience ate it up.

So, you know, even though I saw Todd Snider twice last week and took some punishment from the tequila, I’d gladly go again if he happened to come back this week. And again and again.

If he’s playing with The Nervous Wrecks, he’ll rock the house. But he’s equally good in folk singer mode – just a guitar and harmonica – telling stories, getting the crowd on his side (he always gets the crowd), and playing his awesome songs.

So a new Todd Snider album is a much looked forward to thing. The waiting is not the hardest part. No way the Tom Petty song was about waiting for a Todd Snider record. For one thing, the timing doesn’t work (Tom Petty released The Waiting in 1981). For another, Tom Petty is a sincere guy, and he’s not gonna write a slow chick song about sitting around, waiting for somebody’s record to be released. The whole thing just doesn’t make any sense. So let’s move on, ok? I mean, let it go, dude.

"The Devil You Know" is an excellent addition to the Todd Snider catalog. Partly because his last album – "East Nashville Skyline" – was one of his best, it would have been reasonable to expect this one to fall short of that standard. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. Either way, there is plenty to like about "The Devil You Know."

Clocking in at 39 minutes, and beginning with "If Tomorrow Never Comes," which features a toe-tapping, piano-driven arrangement, the eleven tracks fly right by, featuring mostly full band work ups (the title track stands out), and mixing in a few stripped-down numbers like you get at one his solo shows ("Carla"). Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack share lead guitar duties, and once again demonstrate that they are not afraid to play guitar.

Lyrically, these songs tell many stories. The characters have baggage. Happy endings are not always provided. Plus, you get Todd’s observations about stuff. For example, he’s not a fan of the President (trust me on this one), but he really appreciates rugby players (anyone can go to their parties). And while certain tunes reveal doubt on some big questions – “what does it all mean” questions – others clearly reflect Todd’s convictions. Among them, that it is important to be tolerant of differences and imperfections in others, not to mention your own self.

It’s exactly the kind of sentiment you want Todd Snider to be straight on. Whether the Chucks are on or off.

-Bucky

Mucklewain is a music festival that was held on August 19, 2006, in a big field in Harriman, Tennessee. Actually, it was a southern rock and Americana music festival. Better yet, it was a damn good time.

Mucklewain is the brain child of Joie Todd Kerns and Johnny Mark Miller of Les Honky More Tonkies, a kick-ass southern rock band. They named the festival after Tunis Mucklewain, a Revolutionary War-era Melungeon who posed as an Indian to spy on the British.

Kerns and Miller wanted to create a “working man’s music festival” for hard working bands and fans. The intent was to keep costs down ($30 advance tickets, $45 at the gate) while providing a musical forum for southern American rock bands that don’t get much airplay.

We arrived at Mucklewain a little before noon, parked in a big field, and rode in a school bus to the festival. Upon arriving at the festival, the first band, Mic Harrison and the Hi Score, was already rocking. Some people might remember Mic Harrison from the V-Roys. The band got the crowd dancing with some upbeat country rock songs.

We found a nice shady spot on the hill overlooking the two stages, laid our towels down, and settled in for the day. Including the songwriter stage, there were 30 musicians and groups playing at Mucklewain. The majority of the bands played on either of the two main stages that were set up opposite each other in a large field. When one band finished playing, the next band would be ready to start on the opposite stage.

The smaller songwriters stage was set up at the top of the hill. The only time we really spent at this stage was listening to Webb Wilder. Although Webb performed solo, he still performed crowd favorites like “Human Cannonball” and delighted (confused?) the crowd with his wit (“I come from a part of Mississippi that processes stumps”).

Headliners for the festival were Scott Miller and the Commonwealth, Steve Earle, and Todd Snider. Scott Miller is a local favorite and whenever he performs in East Tennessee, a crowd forms. Mucklewain was no exception. Scott had the crowd singing and dancing as he performed songs off his new CD, “Citation“, as well as some songs off earlier CDs.

Steve Earle, performing solo with an acoustic guitar, opened with “F*** the FCC” but then played some old favorites including “Someday” and “I Ain’t Ever Satisfied.” He made a brief political statement about supporting the troops by bringing them home now before launching into “Rich Man’s War” and ended his set with “Copperhead Road.”

Todd Snider’s set was one of the most entertaining of the day. He performed with a full band, including Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack and played songs from recent CDs, “The Devil You Know”, released in August, and “East Nashville Skyline”, released in 2004.We only wish he had shared more stories. He can make you laugh.

As with any music festival, there are always performances and occurrences that survive until the next day for you to share. Some of these for us were the following:

• Dash Rip Rock…the lyrics were funny, the tunes were upbeat, and the performance was entertaining.
• Brian Waldschlager channeling Mick Jagger as he pranced across the stage rocking the crowd with southern sounds.
• $2 COLD beer
• Sitting on the hill and watching people migrate between stages for each new band.
• Being enthralled by the righteous hula hoop girl.
• Every 30 – 45 minutes a cannon would go off…we suspect it was set up in a cornfield to keep the crows away but it always woke up the crowd.
  Les Honky More Tonkies defines the term Southern Rock. They were great.
• Both of Mary Ann’s sandals broke but the barbecue lady provided tape to hold them together.
• Brief rain showers were like a mist tent, very refreshing.
• More $2 COLD beer.
• Jason Ringenberg’s cowboy outfit. 
• Before and after performances a lot of the musicians were seen in the crowd and on the hill listening to other bands.
• Trent Summar and the New Row Mob. Loved the performance and can’t wait to see them perform again. Trent was all over the stage, kicking his legs in the air, doing jumping jacks, and copping a beautiful Heisman Trophy pose. The songs had energy and the lyrics were entertaining. The funniest part of the festival was when The Yayhoos told Trent to “Shut the f*** up” so they could perform.
• Kevin Kinney, formerly of Drivin ‘N Cryin, performing “Straight to Hell.”
• Loved the $2 COLD beer.
• Will Hoge ROCKED out with a highly energetic set.

Mucklewain was a wonderful way to wrap up the summer. We had a truly outstanding and relaxing time listening to music. Kerns and Miller did a great job of organizing the festival and seeing that it ran on time. The wait for a school bus, a beer, some food, or a port-a-potty was always minimal. They said they wanted to create a festival to celebrate southern American rock music. That they did. We hope they’ll do it again next year! Go to the Mucklewain web site for more pictures and reviews.

– Brother Dave and Mary Ann

The Knitters
The Modern Sounds of The Knitters
Zoe Records
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since the LA punk band X teamed up with Dave Alvin, then of the Blasters, and Johnny Ray Bartel and introduced a new generation to country music. While their first release, “Poor Little Critter in the Road” leaned to more traditional, acoustic arrangements, “The Modern Sounds of The Knitters” is a bit more raucous, with driving, crunchy guitar riffs heavy on the bass strings. There’s a re-worked version of X’s “In This House That I Call Home,” “Burning House Of Love” and Dave Alvin’s “Dry River” along with an interesting take on Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild.”  They got great reviews on the tour and put up a fun website. And it’s great to hear those patented John Doe/Excene Cervenka slightly dissonant harmonies again.
-jitter

Daddy
At The Women’s Club
Cedar Creek Music
Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, Daddy put out one of the most surprising records last year. Rumor has it that after this live session at the Frankfort, Kentucky Women’s Club, they were banned from ever playing that venue again.  Couldn’t have been the music.  It’s hard to imagine a better show had ever been booked in there.  Daddy’s "At The Women’s Club” breathes new vibrancy into the tired old “southern rock” subgenre, alternating between thoughtful countrified ballads, foot-stomping, gospel tinged rockers, and scorching slow-burn blues.  Front men Will Kimbrough (of Todd Snider’s Nervous Wrecks) and Nashville songwriter Tommy Womack (also with the Nervous Wrecks) trade lead vocals and guitar riffs.  Highlights include “Slide It In,” “Happy in Your Skin,” “Nighmares,” and an allegedly totally improvised insertion of The Faces’ classic “Ooh La La” into “The Powers That Be.”  Without a doubt, “At The Women’s Club” is one of the most under-appreciated and best records of the year.
-jitter

South Austin Jug Band
Dark And Weary World
Blue Corn Music
I’ve always liked my bluegrass best in small doses.  While it’s great to lose yourself in a great banjo, mandolin, and fiddle jam, it can get repetitious after a while.  The South Austin Jug Band, with their diverse musical backgrounds incorporating jazz, blues, country, and folk, brings a fresh approach to an old formula with their second release “Dark and Weary World”.  Singer James Hyland’s voice brings to mind a young Steve Earle with his gritty twang.  The arrangements are fresh and melodic without growing tedious.  Check out “There Aint No Liquor In This Town,” a stomping throw-down if there ever was one.  These guys are young, all under 30, and have been playing together in various lineups for the last 4 years.  They play 200 plus shows a year and all that practice has made for a great record that’s easy on the ears without the sterile sounding production of their more famous contemporaries like Alison Krauss or Nickel Creek.
-jitter

Old 97’s
Alive And Wired
New West Records
There are not many bands I’ve seen play as often as I’ve seen the Old 97s. Having caught them at one of their first shows when Rhett Miller and Murray Hammond joined forces after the breakup of legendary punk bluegrass band Killbilly; I’ve watched these guys progress from alt country poster boys to major label pop idols and back again. Alive and Wired manages to showcase the best of all their phases, from the hard driving opener, “Melt Show” to the hard driving closer “Timebomb,” both from 1995’s “Too far To Care.” In between you’ll find 31 songs on 2 discs, everything from their cover of Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” to Rhett’s teenage pop anthems “Rollerskate Skinny” and “The New Kid”. If you’re not familiar with the band, this is a pretty good place to start and if you are, then it’s great to hear the way they tie it all together in a consistently listenable fashion.
-jitter

Todd Snider
That Was Me – The Best of Todd Snider 1994-1998
Hip-O Records
This “best of,” released in 2005, is a compendium of Todd Snider’s first three releases – all great songs. If you are looking to build your Todd collection, this is a good place to start. The novelty song “Talkin’ Seattle Blues,” which spoofs the popularity of grunge rock, or really, any rock out of Seattle in the nineties is probably the most well known of his songs. The compilation also includes “Alright Guy” which represents the quintessential Todd Snider to me – great tune and a tongue-in-cheek style that makes me laugh every time I hear the song, even after a decade or so of hearing it.  Here’s where I should admit to being a big Todd Snider fan. I own all of his discs except this here one that I’m writing about and a bunch of live recordings. And we play him a lot. Here’s the thing: I didn’t buy this disc because, although it’s a good place to get to know early Todd Snider, for my money, it doesn’t include some of his best work, even from those first three discs. It’s missing “My Generation” and “This Land is Our Land” from 1994’s “Songs for the Daily Planet” and somehow managed to leave off “Rocket Fuel” and the cover of the Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker” from “Viva Satellite,” for example. I can’t fathom it. But it’s still good music, and one of the best of the year.
-naomi

The big side of Dallas’s Gypsy Tea Room was about half capacity so there was plenty of room to maneuver through the crowd without getting jostled (or having to jostle) yet still offering a respectable turnout for Todd Snider and opener Fred Eaglesmith.

It was a pretty good night for train songs, sing-a-longs, talking blues, rants, and party tunes.

Fred played solo.  While the front of the crowd was singing along to “Freight Train” and “I Shot Your Dog”, the rear of the crowd was conversing away.

That’s a common complaint – people chattering constantly while a solo performer tries to play, but Fred didn’t seem to notice.  He kept on playing right over them.  He played with real force and the Fred devotees seemed oblivious to anything else in the room.

When he played his closer – “49 Tons (of Diesel Locomotive)” – I could swear some of the talkers quieted down – not all of them, mind you, but some.

Todd Snider came out with his full band, the Nervous Wrecks, kicked off his shoes and started with a couple songs from his latest CD, “East Nashville Skyline.”  He played the first track – “Aged Like Wine” – solo while the band stood by.  Then they launched right into Todd’s cover of Eaglesmith’s “Alcohol And Pills”.

Todd seemed to be healthy, sober, and happy to be here.  He wore a burgundy sport coat with a loose tie and a hat. The band rocked and the audience loved it, singing along with most of the songs.

He comes across much more vividly live than he does on disc, playing loose and keeping it light while still getting his point across, falling somewhere between earnest singer songwriter with a sense of humor and frontman of a rocking party band.

And the Nervous Wrecks really rocked.  They played all the favorites, “Easy Money,” “What’s Wrong With You,” “Alright Guy,” “This Land is Our Land,” and “Try And Keep It Down.”

Todd played a couple of extended talking blues songs – “Tension,” extending his rant about the war on drugs and religion.  Then, later in the set:  “The Ballad of The Kingsmen.”   For this, the talkers actually did, for the most part, shut up and listen.  He made it a pretty amusing little sermon and even worked some Motown into it – “Let’s Get It On” and “It’s Your Thing.”

His cover of Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Life’s Too Short” was another high point.  When in Texas, it never hurts to play a Texas song.

After that, he rolled out the best cut from “East Nashville Skyline,” “Play A Train Song,” before closing the set with a rocking version of “Satisfaction Guaranteed.”

Then he did something I haven’t seen anyone do in a long time:  he came back for an encore and played some fuckin’ Skynyrd, man.  “They Call Me The Breeze.” Actually, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone actually play a Skynyrd encore.

OK.  So it’s not “Freebird.”  The thought was nice.

After that, in front of the diehard fans that stayed, the sing-along really got going with “Barbie Doll” and “Double Wide Blues.”

Todd and the Wrecks came back for a second encore and closed the night by going full circle with “East Nashville Skyline” – playing the last cut, “Enjoy Yourself."

Not that it seemed to me there was anyone there who needed to be told.

The liner notes don’t have song lyrics but they have something even better: Todd’s notes in typical Todd style.  You can get a real sense of Snider by reading his blog – or by listening to his songs.  It’s pretty much the same thing.

He likes to laugh.  And tell stories. In spite of everything, he maintains his sense of humor.  The last few years, he’s been in and out of rehab. He can make us laugh at that too.  It’s probably no accident that he covers Fred Eaglesmith’s “Alcohol and Pills” on this CD.  He’s been there.

“East Nashville Skyline” has 12 songs – nine written by Snider and three well chosen covers.  Eaglesmith’s “Alcohol and Pills”; Billy Joe Shaver’s “Good News Blues” (dedicated to Billy Joe as a thank you for preventing him from getting shot one afternoon); and “Enjoy Yourself” by Herbert Magidson and Carr Sigman.

The stand out song on this CD is “Play A Train Song,” a song Snider wrote in memory of his “best friend and drinking buddy kenneth francis, skip litz or whatever the fuck his real name was.”  The lyrics for this one come straight out of Todd’s blog.  And from his heart.  And it doesn’t hurt that the harmonica wails like Neil Young is playing along.

“Tillamook County Jail” gives an account of an arrest Todd suffered when going home to visit his mom.  He ain’t ever going back to Tillamook County.

He wrote “The Ballad of the Kingsmen” ostensibly about the band from his hometown of Portland, Oregon.  Remember them?  “Louie Louie.”  The song caused quite a bit of consternation when it came out – mostly due to the vagueness of the lyrics.  Snider’s song is about some other stuff, too, which he points out in his liner notes.  Like the mixed messages we send our children and how, when they’re confused, we like to blame it all on “Alice Cooper or somebody.”

“Conservative, Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males.”  The title says it all.

He’s also got a song about Mike Tyson (“Iron Mike’s Main Man’s Last Request”) and another standout – “Incarcerated” which is Todd’s synopsis of a Judge Judy episode. He sings it really fast, the way she talks.

There is something fragile about Todd Snider – the kind of hypersensitivity you sometimes see in an extremely brilliant or creative person.  He’s been known to cut a show short if the audience isn’t properly attentive.  So when you see him live with a drunk audience – you don’t know if he’s gonna laugh and go along with the overenthusiastic fans or leave in distress because he feels he’s not being heard.  There’s a lot of laughter and a lot of pain, often at the same time.

Snider is a slacker in the true sense of the word – he spends less time deciding what to wear for a show than some people do deciding what to wear to the grocery store.  Both times I’ve seen him, he’s shown up in a ratty old t-shirt, baggy pants, and bare feet.  And he looks good like that.  He probably doesn’t even comb his hair half the time. No one minds.

There’s a stoner quality to his voice that is very endearing.  Some days he sounds like he’s had about six too many.  Maybe he has but his performances don’t seem to suffer.

Often, what sets “alt-country” apart from regular old country is a sense of humor, a twist on the ordinary. Todd Snider can do that. And he does it well in East Nashville Skyline.

Oh, and if you like Todd Snider, you might also like Adam Carroll.  A lot.