Snider heads to Gruene hall with funky new songs
Todd Snider is a-preachin.’ And there’s a hustler in the pulpit.
His latest album, “First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder,” released last spring, caught some fans and radio programmers off guard.
“I thought it was going to be a lot for them to swallow,” said Snider, who plays Gruene Hall today and Saturday. “That’s why I put my name as the producer. I didn’t want anybody else getting the blame for this if it was something people thought was a bridge too far.”
That’s because the folk singer went AWOL, sonically. Suddenly, the troubadour wasn’t simply singing and strumming an acoustic guitar.
Instead, the new record came steeped in stripped-down funk, lo-fi gospel and blues minimalism. It’s mixed as if produced by Beck after a Sly Stone binge. And it spotlights Snider’s soulful rasp dead-center a la Bill Withers and Al Green in their ’70s heydays.
He played all the instruments — including the distorted electric bass lines and the authentic Little Walter harmonica parts. And he wrote the lyrics in a stream of consciousness.
“It’s very different. I didn’t really have any songs to start with,” said Snider, a meticulous wordsmith. “We had the pandemic. And we had the studio. We couldn’t gather a big band. But we could get three or four people in there. We didn’t have anything to do. We thought, ‘(Expletive). Let’s just start recording.’
“I played all the instruments myself, which I don’t think I would’ve had the courage to do if we hadn’t been in lockdown. I would’ve called better players.”
The songs are built around the beat, he said. The recordings often began with vocals over a fatback drum groove.
A typical Todd Snider song begins with multiple drafts of lyrics and rewrites over several
months, even years. Such was not the case this time.
“We had such a good time,” he said. “We really felt like we got to do that thing that Dylan does where we tried every song, every way. That’s just how we felt. It was really a funky time.”
Whether listening to the album on headphones, buds or speakers, the spacious, ultraclear mix is part of the fun.
Snider doesn’t consider “First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder” to be a concept album.
“It’s more an indulgent record,” he said. “I didn’t have the feeling it would be something that everyone would like. But it was something I really wanted to try. I wanted to dip my toe into that funk without abandoning what I do.”
The new album is definitely different from Snider’s most recent previous releases — the
alter-ego greasy blues and roots rock ’n’ roll of “Eastside Bulldog” and the Jerry Jeff Walkerish vibe of “Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3.”
And it’s not for everyone. KSYM-FM roots music director Dave Ludwig didn’t find a song that fit the San Antonio College station’s long-running Third Coast music show, where new music by Snider typically would be ubiquitous.
Ludwig applauds Snider’s adventurous spirit but found the results mixed.
“It sounds like it was more fun to make than (for me) to listen to,” he said. “He’s not afraid to change direction from past projects.”
But Snider stays connected to his roots, too.
The album’s opening tracks — “Turn Me Loose (I’ll Never Be the Same)” and “Never Let a Day Go By”— were inspired by
Jerry Jeff Walker. They are phrases Walker often whooped onstage to uplift his band and fans.
They are bittersweet reminders. Walker, a close friend of Snider’s, died Oct. 23, 2020.
“Yeah, me and Jerry Jeff were talking a lot up until when he passed,” Snider said.
John Prine’s death on April 7, 2020, also hit Snider hard and inspired a song for the record.
The tribute, “Handsome John,” breaks the album’s rowdy mood with a quiet piano drenched in reverb and a markedly different, melancholy voice. By the time the harmonica comes in midway through the song about the singing mailman, listeners should prepare to get choked up.
“There was nobody better,” Snider sings.
His new album may be a departure, but Snider will play
solo with guitar, as he always does, at Gruene Hall tonight. Expect some of the new songs to be on the set list.
“I just sort of take the little hooks and play them all on the guitar,” he said.
His final takeaway about the new album: “Overall, I was hoping to have it be more of a Saturday night album than a Sunday morning album.”
Singer-songwriter Terri Hendrix is not surprised her old friend is still taking wild chances with his music. She’s a fan, and they’ve shared plenty of stages.
They met in the 1990s when they were both waiting tables at Pepper’s at the Falls in San Marcos. She discovered Cheatham Street Warehouse and Kent Finlay’s songwriter nights through him.
“I think there’s a whole lot going on in that head of his,” Hendrix said. “When the muse calls, you answer. And never, ever apologize for it.”
No doubt, Snider’s church bells will be ringing without apology at Gruene Hall — and the congregation will be singing and dancing along.