The Herald-Palladium, 6/25/2009

True blues

Todd Snider’s new album anchored by confessional

By JEREMY D. BONFIGLIO
H-P Features Writer

THREE OAKS – Todd Snider is still a bit embarrassed about last summer’s arrest.

“I’m in my 40s now so I was hoping not to go to jail anymore,” he says by telephone during a tour stop in Memphis, Tenn. “I shouldn’t have been smoking weed in my car. I should have gone some place where I wouldn’t have gotten caught.”

While sitting in a Greencastle, Ind., jail cell for that marijuana misstep, Snider penned “Greencastle Blues,” a confessional that anchors his new album, “The Excitement Plan.” Released June 9 on Yep Roc Records and produced by Grammy winner Don Was, Snider’s ninth studio recording blends his self-effacing humor and sharp-witted insights with the loose, easygoing vibe of his live shows. Snider, who performs at 8 tonight at the Acorn Theater in Three Oaks, calls the release “a bit of a left turn” from last year’s politically charged EP “Peace Queer.”

“To me, ‘The Excitement Plan’ is about the lap of poverty being sung with some authority and experience, where ‘Peace Queer’ was more speculation from afar,” the 42-year-old Snider says. “It certainly comes from the heart of the story. … That’s what I think anyway.”

Snider’s ability to write songs filled with honesty and humor, even when the topic is his own battle with addiction, has long endeared him to music critics, but mainstream exposure alluded him until his 2006 release, “The Devil You Know.” That CD landed on numerous year-end Top 10 lists, including that of Spin and Rolling Stone. It also led to performances on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno and “Late Night with David Letterman.” Last year’s “Peace Queer,” a studio assemblage of eight castoffs from a planned follow-up album, had similar success, spending five weeks atop the Americana chart.

“The last two records did well, so it’s tempting to repeat that,” Snider says. “But if the songs don’t nourish your spirit, then why do it? If all you are looking to do is make the same music over and over, then be a lawyer. It’s easier to make a living.”

After self-producing several songs intended for “The Excitement Plan,” Snider realized he needed more direction to make the record he wanted.

“I was listening to Kris Kristofferson’s ‘This Old Road,’” Snider says. “I went and told everybody that this is sort of the direction I want to go. My manager looked at the liner notes to see who produced it, saw Don Was and took a chance.”
Was, who produced Kristofferson’s 2006 album, signed on, bringing in musicians Greg Liesz on steel guitar and dobro, Jim Keltner on drums and engineer Krish Harma to complement Snider’s acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals. Was himself played upright bass on the record.

“If you see Todd’s live shows with an acoustic guitar you can see he’s doing everything just fine,” Was says by telephone from Santa Monica, Calif. “You just want to try to capture that. You do that by just going in and playing.”
They recorded the 12 tracks on “The Excitement Plan” in just two and a half days, creating a gentle album with a raw, laid-back groove that is being called Snider’s best work yet.

“I don’t think he’s changed that much,” Was says. “I think the times have just caught up with him. I played with him about 10 days ago at Bonnaroo, and it was maybe the most enthusiastic reaction I’ve ever seen from a crowd from the stage, and that includes when I played with the Rolling Stones. He’s really captured the zeitgeist of the moment.”
In addition to “Greencastle Blues,” “The Excitement Plan” features gems such as the erotically charged “Don’t Tempt Me,” a duet with Loretta Lynn, and “America’s Favorite Pastime,” which tells the true story of late Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis, who in 1970 took LSD when he thought he had the day off only to discover when he got to the ballpark that it was his turn in the rotation. He stepped onto the mound anyway and pitched a no-hitter.

“It’s possible to have something beautiful and flawed at the same time,” Was says. “You can still be a good, virtuous person and forget you have to pitch that day or be tempted by a girl in a short skirt. Todd’s songs reflect that.”
Originally from Portland, Ore., Snider left home at 16. He lived from sofa to sofa with stops in Austin, Texas, and Memphis, Tenn., before finding a couch of his own in East Nashville with artist wife Melita Osheowitz, whom he met during one of three rehab stints.

Snider first sought treatment for morphine addiction in 1997, just after finishing his third album, “Viva Satellite.” In 2003, he fell into addiction again. This time it was Oxycontin. His 2004 album, “East Nashville Skyline,” earned Snider the best reviews of his career, but a few months after its release he was back in rehab again. Five years later, Snider still struggles with drug use.

“None of them have ever really taken,” Snider says of his time in rehab. “The hard drugs, I just can’t do it physically anymore. If someone hands me heroin or Oxycontin now, I just hand it to someone else. Pot is the one I still do. I’m not apologetic about it because you never hear stories about the guy who smoked weed and drove 90 miles per hour into a tree. The stories I’ve heard are about the guy who spent like 14 minutes trying to choose what peanut butter to get at the store.”

That may be why Snider isn’t scheduled to play in Greencastle, Ind., anytime soon.

After 30 dates this winter on the West Coast, Snider is now halfway through a 22-city summer tour that has included notable stops at the Bonnaroo Music Festival and Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

“We just really never stop anymore,” Snider says. “It’s a tough life if you don’t figure it out, but I think I’ve got it down pretty good right now.”

jbonfiglio@TheH-P.com