Singer/songwriter
Todd Snider first garnered attention for his timely alt-rock satire "Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues," a folk-rock song that struck a chord with younger people fed up with angry alternative rock bands, and at the same time, appealed to aging rockers who grew up with the folk revival of the 1960s.
Snider was born in Portland, OR, and grew up in Santa Rosa, Austin, Houston, and Atlanta. After moving to Memphis in the mid-'80s and establishing residency at a local club named The Daily Planet, he was discovered by singer/songwriter
Keith Sykes, a member of
Jimmy Buffett's
Coral Reefer Band.
Sykes began to work with
Snider to help advance his career, and after passing on demo tapes of
Snider to
Buffett, he was signed to the star's Margaritaville Records.
Snider's debut album,
Songs for the Daily Planet was released in the fall of 1994; "Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues" was added to the album as an afterthought only after intense lobbying by a Canadian music critic, and ultimately became a minor hit.
On his second effort, 1996's
Step Right Up,
Snider and his band, the Nervous Wrecks (comprised of lead guitarist and multi-instrumentalist
Will Kimbrough, bassist
Joe Mariencheck, drummer
Joe McLeary, and keyboardist
David Zollo), continued blending bluegrass, blues, folk-rock, and country-rock to forge their own distinctive sound. On his third album, 1998's
Viva Satellite,
Snider took a
Tom Petty approach, replacing much of his acoustic setup with twang-drenched electric guitar. In 2000, he signed to
John Prine's Oh Boy label and returned to his singer/songwriter roots with
Happy to Be Here. He recorded three more records for the label, 2002's
New Connection, 2003's
Near Truths and Hotel Rooms Live, and 2004's
East Nashville Skyline.
That Was Me: The Best of Todd Snider 1994-1998 was released on Hip-O in 2005, and the next year
Snider's eighth album,
Devil You Know, came out. In 2008
Snider released the politically charged
Peace Queer, an eight-song collection of antiwar songs as filtered through
Snider's signature wit and amiable pathos.
The Excitement Plan appeared from Yep Roc Records in 2009. ~ Richard Skelly, All Music Guide