Todd Snider at the Redstone Room -- March 21.
Monday, March 21, 8 p.m.
The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA
Touring in support of his 2021 album First Agnostic Church of Wonder, a recording that Rolling Stone called "a raw portrait of a world-class songwriter processing calamity and chaos in real time, the iconic, genre-hopping singer/songwriter Todd Snider returns to Davenport's Redstone Room on March 21, demonstrating why Rolling Stone also raved, “His lyrics are razor sharp, unsparing, hilarious, and surprisingly tender.”
After years playing the club circuit in Tennessee, Snider's 1994 debut album on MCA, Songs for the Daily Planet, was named for the Memphis bar in which Snider used to play regularly. On that album were the hits “Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues” – a folk song about the early '90s grunge scene – and “Alright Guy,” which later became the title cut of Gary Allan's 2001 album. Snider released two more albums for MCA, Step Right Up and Viva Satellite, before moving to John Prine's Oh Boy Records, for which he subsequently recorded Happy to Be Here, New Connection, Near Truths & Hotel Rooms, East Nashville Skyline, and Peace Love & Anarchy. The artist's next studio album The Devil You Know was released in 2006 and marked Snider's return to a major label, the Universal Records subsidiary New Door Records. That release made several critics' best-of-the-year lists, including a number-33 ranking in Rolling Stone's top-50 albums of the year, a number-25 ranking by No Depression magazine, and a number-14 by Blender magazine. Snider's album Peace Queer, meanwhile, was released in October of 2008 and reached number-one on the Americana Airplay Chart, with its hit follow-up The Excitement Plan released in June of the following year.
Since then, Snider has enjoyed top-10 Billboard successes with 2011's Time as We Know It: The Songs of Jerry Jeff Walker and 2012's Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables, and authored the humorous autobiography I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like: Mostly True Tall Tales in 2014. He received some of his strongest critical notices to date for 2019's Cash Cabin Sessions Vol. 3 (the title itself showcasing Snider's humor, as there are are no volumes one or two preceding it), with Lone Star Music Magazine deeming the work “a classic new album” in which Snider “is bringing it all back home both lyrically and approach-wise,” and NYSMusic.com writing that the singer/songwriter “taps into a folk, country, and blues sound but ... puts a new twist on the music that shows how talented the artist is.” And Snider's raves have continued with First Agnostic Church of Wonder, which Americana Highways labeled "funky (and) harmonious," adding "the entire album is a joy."
Todd Snider brings his "Pickin', Grinnin', Tellin' Stories, Takin' Requests Tour," to the Redstone Room on March 21 with an opening set by Gregg Hall, admission to the 8 p.m. concert is $32-50, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)326-1333 and visiting RiverMusicExperience.org.
