Jan 26th: Todd Snider feelin' at home in St. Louis

(Credit: Jill Norath)

Jason Gonulsen
Special to Metromix

If you missed Todd Snider's last show in St. Louis at The Sheldon, you'll have another chance to see him tomorrow night at Blueberry Hill. That is, if you already have a ticket. Snider's show with opener Keith Sykes is sold out. The singer-songwriter, who released Peace Queer in 2008, has obviously been noticed by many St. Louisians, as well as may others; the album was #1 for four weeks on the Americana charts.

When I caught up with Snider over e-mail last week, he seemed to notice the love.

"I do get excited when I hear the show is sold out," Snider said, "and figure i can make a longer set list. I also have a superstition type thing of raising a toast to the empty house when it's full. I like to remind myself on good nights that I signed up for the tough nights, too."

Although there still may very well be tough nights for Snider—he confesses that "it gets hard to seperate the shows at (his) age"— the Duck Room should feel like a special place tomorrow. The songs off Peace Queer might be on his mind, as well as new material that he's set to release later this year.

"The peace queers were brutal and cruel," Snider says of Peace Queer. "I am proud of the record I made for them, but felt the beatings and strong arming unneccesarry. I intend to sue the pants off the peace queers. "Stuck on the Corner" is really the only song on there that I love. I was gonna save it for my new record coming out, but I just loved the track and knew it wouldn't fit with the new direction I'm gonna head for with my release in June. And to have re-recorded it acoustic would have just been a little lesbian seagull for my taste.

The rest of the music is kinda out takes... stuff I considered one-dimensional. In the past I've had funny songs, sad songs, universal songs and personal songs. But on the new album I waited 'til I had twelve songs that were all four of those things at once.

"Stuck on the Corner" is the only one on Peace Queer that hits that bill for me. With all the new stuff coming, I wanted to laugh (and)  cry ...and the Peace Queer songs, to me, were a moment for that. I like them though, don't get me wrong. Just give me forty more years to speak in circles on this and I'll start to hone in."

When asked who his favorite songwriters are, Snider lists Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Bob Dylan, The Stones and St. Louis' Brian Henneman of The Bottle Rockets. He's also got another famous St. Louisan on his list.

"My favorite songwriter when pushed to pick an absolute favorite is St. Louis' own Chuck Berry," Snider says.

If you are going to the show, be sure to get there early to check out Keith Sykes, because Snider can't say enough good things about him.

"Keith Sykes is from Memphis. He was and is a hero to me. I found his house and just showed up. He took me in and got me a record contract. Now twenty years later, I have produced a record on him, and am going to put it out on Aimless (Records). I think he is staggeringly good. I hope to spread the word of his album. It's called Country Morning Music."

5 Todd Snider videos to check out before tonight's show:

"Beer Run"

"Looking For a Job"

"Unbreakable"

"Ballad of the Kingsmen"

"Missing You"