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Late Nights and the Endless Road: America’s Storyteller, Todd Snider

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Folk singer Todd Snider has been on the road for nearly a quarter century. He’s a prolific songwriter with a penchant for hilarious and poignant storytelling. Snider is on tour, celebrating the 10th anniversary of his breakthrough album, East Nashville Skyline, and is performing in Flagstaff tonight. He recently spoke with Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius about the bizarre experiences that inspire many of his songs, and his new memoir, "I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like: Mostly True Tall Tales."

Ryan Heinsius: Tell me what the inspiration was for getting all your stories together in one spot and putting them out to the world.

Todd Snider: Just money. I don’t mind admitting it that ‘cause I don’t do any other stuff for money. I don’t even know how much money I have because I don’t want to be motivated by it. So, then they said I could have money, so I was like, “That’s great ‘cause I’ll buy stuff with it.” Then, if I’m flying and somebody asks me what I am, instead of a singer, now I say author. That’s where the pay is. Telling a chick I’m an author instead of a singer — that’s what I got out of it.

Credit Courtesy

RH: Perhaps more than anything you’re known as a great storyteller. What was your first experience with the art of telling a good story in your life?

TS: It was the very first time that I got on at an open mic, and I didn’t know what I was gonna do. And I got up there, and I had the intention of playing three songs and after the first one I just started talking about the next one. It was nerves, but it really went over. I was probably 21 then. This guy that owned a bar said, “You’re good at making up songs and you’re good at talking in between them.” So I was like, “OK, I’ll pursue that.” Now at my age, at 48, I’m a real student of storytelling and songwriting.

Credit Courtesy of Jay Blakesberg
The Hard Working Americans formed in late 2013 and features Snider (second from right) and Widespread Panic bassist David Schools (left).

RH: I wanted to chat with you a little bit about the 10th anniversary of East Nashville Skyline. I think for a lot of people it was their introduction to your music. What for you personally is the legacy of that album?

TS: It was the first time that making an album didn’t feel like I had to leave my world to do it. For my generation, that was a neat moment where everybody on that record had just sort of woken up to realize that they were a professional musician. It felt like it really came out a genuine piece of a neighborhood, and I’m lucky that I was the one with the photo on the cover because it could have been just about anybody.

RH: You tend to write a lot of songs based on some shady characters and situations you’ve encountered. For you, why is portraying that first-person grittiness of life a central part of your music?

TS: When I’m in some guy named Ratsnake’s basement and he’s showing me his illegal gun collection and offering me meth, or whatever — I don’t need the meth, but it’s what I like, it’s where I want to be. I feel like a journalist or something. When I find myself in some strange home because I got in some strange car, sometimes I’m scared, but mostly it feels like this is what my life’s work was. God, what I would do after the show, is just as important to the show as the show.

Ryan Heinsius joined KNAU's newsroom as an executive producer in 2013 and became news director and managing editor in 2024. As a reporter, he has covered a broad range of stories from local, state and tribal politics to education, economy, energy and public lands issues, and frequently interviews internationally known and regional musicians. Ryan is an Edward R. Murrow Award winner and a Public Media Journalists Association Award winner, and a frequent contributor to NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered and national newscast.
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