Culture
Todd Snider to Perform July 2 At Stuart’s
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Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio welcomes singer, songwriter, and storyteller Todd Snider on Saturday, July 2 at 8 p.m. with Rorey Carroll opening the show.
Rolling Stone calls Todd Snider “America’s sharpest musical storyteller” and The A.V. Club says “Snider’s a spiritual brother to Kristofferson, Prine, Springsteen, and all those other scruffy troubadours”. After a dozen (or 14 depending on your count) albums and a few decades playing his songs all over the place, Snider continues to win over new fans with his wit, storytelling, and live performances. His newest release came earlier this year with his band Hard Working Americans, who Snider continues to tour with in addition to his constant solo shows.
Todd Snider is on the happy back end of happy hour at a favorite East Nashville bar, talking about his last solo album, 2012’s Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables. “This record doesn’t come from good times,” Snider says. “I wanted to sound the way I feel, which sometimes means sounding like a broken soul.” On the 10 new songs, Snider doesn’t talk around the vulnerable part, or the angry part, or the part about how everything we’re taught about goodness and righteousness and capitalism, about God and family values winds up exploding into violence and chaos, wonder and longing. He might carry the mantle of “storyteller” – it’s what he titled his live record, after all – but Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables is anything but a nice, folk/Americana troubadour album. That Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables is also roaringly funny is tribute to Snider’s unique sensibilities, and to his standing as what Rolling Stone magazine calls “America’s sharpest musical storyteller.”
Anguish without laughter is boring, like intensive care without morphine, and Snider has never been within 100 miles of boring. Also, he didn’t earn the attention, friendship and fandom of American musical giants like Kris Kristofferson and John Prine by writing mopey protest songs. The result is something disconcerting, cracked and wholly original. It’s something that stands apart from the music of Snider’s heroes, and from Snider’s own, much-celebrated past.
With musical roots in the folk/bluegrass world, Rorey Carroll has developed her sound into something unique and bold pulling from rock/americana influences. As a writer, Carroll’s strength is showing the beauty in everything, from the smoky bar rooms to the littered streets. She not only seeks those places out, but paints them in gorgeous Technicolor with the voice of one who has been there. Her songwriting delivers the honest subtlety of living the life of a gypsy, while still longing for the simplicity of small town happiness.
Tickets are on sale now! Floor seats are $28 in advance or $33 at the door, Balcony seats are $22 in advance or $27 at the door, and box seats are $32 in advance or $37 at the door. For tickets and more information call (740) 753-1924 or visit our website at www.stuartsoperahouse.org.