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ACL live interview: Todd Snider
Todd Snider’s increasingly political songwriting (“Conservative Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight, White American Males”) crested three years ago (“You Got Away With It (A Tale of Two Fraternity Brothers)”) and peaked with last year’s pointed EP “Peace Queer.” The 42-year-old singer indulged requests (“Play a Train Song,” “Easy Money”) near the end of his Friday afternoon set on the Austin Ventures stage. “I’ll have a few drinks, thinking about what I want to play,” he says. “I’ll play mostly what I want to play, but I take (requests because) I want to be challenged, too.”
American-Statesman: How’s your ACL been?
Todd Snider: I guess I’d just say that the people who help out are being so nice. It’s easy to get around.
Are you sticking around to see anyone?
I want to see the Kings of Leon and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and that guy who plays with Peter Buck, Robin Hitchcock. But I have to leave (Saturday). I’m going to play Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (in San Francisco).
What do you like about this festival compared to others?
I love Bonnaroo and I’m not knocking it, but I love the diversity here.
The Walkmen drowned you out at first, though. How distracting was that?
I could hear the other bands, totally. But, you know, it’s not a big deal. I’m not the concern. It didn’t bother me because I could hear my sound through my monitor. That’s the hard part about festivals, though, I guess. It just comes with the territory.
You have a birthday coming up (on Oct. 11). You played ‘Greencastle Blues,’ which touches on getting older as a musician and getting into trouble. Has touring gotten old for you? Would you ever quit to take a job selling insurance?
Oh, no, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t do a different job. Well, maybe, like Spinal Tap, I could be a haberdasher (laughs). Really, I don’t know if there’s something I could do besides this. But if I keep saving money, I might be able to just sit around. It’s an interesting question. How long do you do it? Well, I guess as long as it’s fun.
So, it’s still fun?
For me it is. I know people who don’t think it’s still fun, but I still dig it, and I still like to travel. I don’t always enjoy playing because sometimes it’s nerve wracking. Today for some reason I wasn’t nerve wracked, but, you know, every day you’re in a new town and you’re having fun and everyone’s clapping.
You’ve been doing that ‘My name’s Todd Snider and I might go on for 18 minutes between the songs’ bit for a long time now.
Yeah, I sort of go into a trance. You know, it’s funny. I’ve said it before, but not everybody’s heard it before. I always like to get that out of the way before I play. It feels like once I say that part, I can relax.
Even those who know the routine seem to always laugh at it.
I think they’re laughing because I’m saying it…again (laughs). I might say the same thing twice, but I’m not going to come into a town and be like, “Hey, glad to be in town, we stopped over here and got a soup at this place downtown that was really great.” When I talk, I like to think I have a point to make. Sometimes it comes off like a play, I guess, but I don’t want to waste that time.
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