Todd Snider

Concert Review: at Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA

Todd Snider, admittedly, might recycle his stories often, and he may even sing the same songs from time to time, but it's hard to believe that any two shows he puts on are quite the same. As he takes the stage on this early spring evening, he thanks the crowd for braving the weather (not that bad) and coming out on a weeknight to see him play. What he doesn't realize—or maybe he does—is that the audience is packed with absolutely devoted fans. Surrounding me are men, mostly my age (late 20s/early 30s). Men torn between their recent collegiate past and their current professional realities. The girls are here, too, many of them ogling Snider in a way they probably wouldn't if they actually saw him on the street. Our unassuming superhero for the night likely blends in with most crowds in his day-to-day life. Onstage, however, in his barefeet, pink shirt, and old black vest, Snider is electrifying. Something about his average joe exterior demands attention. Something about his almost Huck-Finn-ish personality cuts through the usual borders between superhero and adoring fans, instantly sucking in any doubters. Snider is full of stories. Whether he's working through a loosely knit talking blues tune about "Louie Louie" or whether he's just talking between songs, the man is born to storytell. On this night, his golden story is about the time he met the man who wrote "If Tomorrow Never Comes," by Garth Brooks. His story gallavants around corners like a dirty old country road, kicking up dust and sputtering around, generating laughs and tying everything together tangentially. He starts out referencing his crowd favorite "Beer Run" (which he performs swimmingly later), and works his way around to the ways in which songwriters "borrow" from one another. It all ends with a song he wrote called "If Tomorrow Never Comes," a tribute to the man who wrote another version with the same title.

Political songs about wars, rants about working construction in a boomtown, love songs, stories, apologies, and demands—Todd Snider has them all, and he serves them as well onstage as he does on record.

Amy LaVere

Amy Lavere was here in December with her alt-pop band opening for Todd Snider and when she heard about the WMNF's Rockablly Ruckus she said she has to be there. Amy started her musical career in Memphis with her upright bass playing classic country and rockabilly and she is coming back to get back to her roots. She also a minor role in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line playing rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson.