Todd Snider

“All the songs are the result of hearing about a war. I’ve never really lived during a time like this,” always mirthful country singer/songwriter Todd Snider recently told Nuvo while discussing his upcoming gig at the Murat on November 22. “Even though I still do have some political crap on my next record, I’m ready for all this war stuff to be over with.” 

Like his previous proper studio release, 2006’s career-best The Devil You Know, Snider’s brand new effort, the eight-song Peace Queer, is focused on politics from the standpoint of an everyday outsider - a role Snider is fit as any for.

“I like interviewers to know that I’m a three-course stoner. At my core that’s what I’ll always be,” the songwriter laughed following a brief rant about politics. “Taking political advice from me is like taking political advice from an elephant trainer, you know, ‘hey, when you’re done with the elephant thing will you tell me how to vote?’ I don’t take any of this politics stuff any more seriously than I do sports or rock ‘n’ roll. I prefer rock as my form of entertainment, but I do watch the jocks and the sports sometimes.”

When asked about a comment he made in an interview concerning a “trilogy of new records, beginning with Peace Queer,” Snider laughed. “I was just fucking with that [interviewer],” he said. “I made the new EP and I have another record coming that’s gonna have 12 songs on it. The reason I’ve said that I’ll have a third album is because sometimes at night I make these songs with my friends, these rock n’ roll songs that are really sort of silly for a 42-year-old.  I don’t know that I’d let anyone but my friends hear those songs, but if you ever see a record called Shit Sandwich out there then you know that someone talked me in to letting those tapes out.”

With a long history of successful studio albums down his beaten path, Snider is now putting out his best work. For those unfamiliar, try to imagine what the early ‘70s Stones would’ve sounded like with a writer who knew how to put things just right and a singer who chews gravel, laughs and howls.

Indiana has always been very welcoming of Snider, hosting the gangly artist often since his early ‘90s debut. “How far is Indianapolis from John Cougar?” Snider asked while discussing Indiana. “Mellencamp’s in free! I want to meet him, so try to bait John Mellencamp into coming out to our show. “Anyhow, wait for my next record, it’s the greatest thing. It’s my favorite album I’ve ever done.”

Written by G. William Locke