You Asked, Todd Answered, Part 1

The first batch of questions and answers from ‘Ask Todd Anything’

Todd Snider met Hunter S. Thompson on one of his visits to New Orleans. (Photo courtesy of Random House)

By Daryl Sanders

The response to The Snider Files’ “Ask Todd Anything” thread was impressive — more than 40 questions were submitted for Todd Snider to answer in a 48-hour period. At Snider’s request, the thread was closed at that point. If you missed the opportunity to submit a question, no worries — The Snider Files will do this again somewhere down the line.

Snider thoughtfully answered most of your questions, and in some cases gave lengthy responses. Because of the sheer volume of the questions and answers, they will be published in multiple parts, beginning today with part one. The questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity and reordered for flow.

---

Joe: Are you actually going to answer any of these questions?

Todd: For sure. I’ve already answered a bunch. I don’t have shit all to do.

David Flynn: Do you listen to Cocaine & Rhinestones? If so, which is your favorite story so far?

Todd: I don’t know what that is. It sounds like a show with stories in it. but I haven’t heard of it.

(Cocaine & Rhinestones is a podcast about the history of country music in the 20th century. — Editor)

Cyd: The dinner party question. If you could break bread with anyone alive or otherwise, who would it be? Feel free to invite as many as you wish.

Todd: My dad, Bob Mercer, Richard Lewis, John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker, Mike “Moondawg” Webb, Neal Casal, Jeff Austin, Skip “Play a Train Song” Litz, Cowboy Jim, Jimmy Buffet, Lynsey McDonald, Lisa Byhre (high school sweetheart), Digger Dave, Eddie Shaver, Dan Einstein, Al Bunetta (my old manager, Prine’s manager), Trog, Guy Clark, Jeff Austin, Loretta Lynn, Kent Finlay, Billy Joe Shaver, Peter Cooper, O.J. Linn, my mom’s mom, my dad’s brother,  Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson and Farrah Fawcett.

Will Norton: Waffle House or Cracker Barrel? Was writing easier as a younger person? What is the best guitar-playing advice you have gotten?

Todd: I don’t like to go out to eat. 

That’s a good question about the writing. I don’t know. I’m gonna think about that for awhile. It’s evolved a lot over the years. I’ve gone out of my way to stay interested in it at the risk of having less success at it. Because I can get more with it than I can get with money.

(Jason) Isbell showed me how you could play a note-for-note lead of any melody you wanted without leaving the first three frets, and that it would open up my understanding of the rest of it. I think it was the same night Jerry Jeff Walker came on stage at our gig. But it turned playing guitar into something I am really passionate about. I used to just use it to make up songs.

Christie Shumate: I’m breaking the nonexistent rules and asking two questions: What’s your favorite venue to play (choose up to five, no more)? And what happened to East Nashville, man?

Todd: My favorite venue to play is either Gruene Hall or the Ryman.

East Nashville moved to Gallatin. It’s at Dee’s now. The D stands for cocaine. East Nashville is too expensive for art-as-a-lifestyle types anymore. In the old days, the difference between an Americana singer who’d made it and one who hadn’t was about three hundred bucks, but that all changed about 10 years ago. Now there’s haves and have-nots, and kids everywhere.

Biscuit: As someone born and raised there, I always felt you would fit right in to New Orleans. Your funky side on First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder was further proof with ghosts of Fess and Dr. John in the music. Will we hear more of this funky side of you on future records? Got any good stories of your visits to New Orleans?

Todd: Rock and roll comes from there. Jerry Jeff roadied for Babe Stoval there. I met Hunter Thompson there. I got drunk with Jimmy Buffet there. I got drunk with Jerry Jeff there. “912 Greens” ends there. “Bojangles” begins there. I can’t hold my frequency still when I am there — strange energies.

Funk is all there is. The rest is fake news.

Dorothy Blair: Hi, Todd. I was at your show at Gruene Hall a few days after 9/11. I was wondering how difficult that show was to do, as your shows usually have a lot of humor. Love The Snider Files. Thanks, Todd

Todd: Robert Kearns and Will Kimbrough played with me that night. We opened with “The Star Spangled Banner.” I might have joked around a bit between songs. I don’t have a memory of not being able to, but I remember I decided before the gig to open with the national anthem and then not say another word about it.

Peyton: How is “Where Will I Go Now that I'm Gone” coming along?

Todd: “She’s asleep in our room / The keys on the counter / She’ll know I’ve left her just after dawn / This highway looks lonesome / Thru the rain on my windshield / Where will I go now that I’m gone.”

That’s the first bit I started with, and there’s been more at times, but currently this is all I have.

Samuel Reddick: Who’s your favorite haiku poet?

Todd: I like the ones I make up the best. I’m like the Bosho of folk. I’ll send them to Daryl.

(The Snider Files will publish some of Snider’s haikus in the coming weeks. — Editor)

James Henry: Can you give us a special story about Gary (Oelze) from The Birchmere in Alexandria (Virginia)?

Todd: I’ve known Gary 30 years. He’s pretty even-keeled, so I don’t have any crazy stories. But we hung out with Rahm Emanuel together one night. He’s a pillar in the folk community.

Andrew: What's the background on “Barbie Doll,” and are we gonna hear it in the future?

Todd: I was staying in Mike Utley’s barn for awhile and (Jack) Ingram came out to see how that worked, and also we were going to try to make a song. Eventually we got around to working on this song called “Feel Like I’m Falling” and after a few hours we thought we had it. I forget where he had to be, but he was about to have to leave and as he was packing his shit up, I was playing the guitar like that song, and he said let’s make something for that real quick. Then he sang the first verse like he knew it already, and less then 10 minutes later we had that song finished. It was the single on his record. I was playing guitar in the same room as him, and I was supposed to yell “barbie doll” in the background. When I did, it was an octave above him. I hadn’t meant to do it, but it sounded cool so I kept it.

Scott Thomas: What inspired “Some Things Are”? Also, how does one get you to officiate a wedding (mine and my love’s)?

Todd: That song was about a friend of mine who wasn't sure if his kid was his kid. So he went and got him tested, but then decided not to look at the results because they wouldn’t make a difference to him.

I stopped doing weddings because I am 0-2.

Cody Howdeshell: Hi, Todd! You are my all-time music inspiration. During every procedure I do at the hospital, my playlist starts off with “Alright Guy” and “Play a Train Song.” Another of my favorite artists is Cody Canada, and he pays you a lot of tributes both on his records and at live shows. Any good stories of you and Cody?

Todd: Cody and Shannon are like family to me. We go back a long way, and stay in touch. He can play the guitar better than any songwriters, but he’s more songwriter than guitar player. More artist than musician. I respect him a lot and also listen to him for pleasure. The only story I can think of offhand is how there used to be a place in Gruene Hall where we both made sure there was always a joint. We did it for each other, but I can’t say where we hid it cuz I bet there’s one there now.

The Snider Files will publish part two of “You Asked, Todd Answered” tomorrow.

© 2024 Daryl Sanders