Todd Snider died November 14, 2025. The following is an archival interview previewing his performance at a NPR Illinois Bedrock 66 Live show January 13, 2012.
Todd Snider says what’s on his mind. His music is steeped in his beliefs about war and politics, religion and any other subject often viewed as taboo for most artists. Snider’s latest cd “The Storyteller” allows him to further explain his songs and whatever else is on his mind. Todd Snider takes the stage Saturday night at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in downtown Springfield. It’s the first show of the new season for the WUIS Bedrock 66 Live Music Series. WUIS’ Sean Crawford talks with Todd Snider, who explains where his knack for storytelling comes from…
Todd Snider kicks off the new season of the WUIS Bedrock 66 Live Music Series Saturday night at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in downtown Springfield.
The show begins at 8 with opening act Ashleigh Flynn. The show is sold out. Only a few season tickets remain. Call the Hoogland Center Box Office for details.
Transcripted by AI with human review in 2025.
Sean Crawford:
This is WUIS. I'm Sean Crawford. Todd Snider says what's on his mind. His music is steeped in his beliefs about war in politics, religion, and any other subject often viewed as taboo for many artists.
Todd Snider singing Mission Accomplished (Because You Gotta Have Faith):
Will Rogers said he never met a man he didn't like.
Wait, let me back up and make sure I got that right.
He might have liked every man he ever met. That's true.
But he never said he liked every man that he knew.
Sean Crawford:
Snider's latest CD, The Storyteller, allows him to further explain his songs. Todd Snider takes the stage tomorrow night (Jan. 13, 2012) at the Hoagland Center for the Arts in downtown Springfield. It's the first show of the new season for the WUIS Bedrock 66 Live music series. Todd Snider told us where his knack for storytelling comes from.
Todd Snider:
I was a bit of a bull-crastinator, they say, even as a young person. I don't know how that started. Some people, if they get nervous, they start talking and trying to be funny. That seemed to be really early on when I, the first time I ever got up at an open mic, somebody said, “Have you ever heard of Arlo Guthrie?” I couldn't hardly even remember what had happened up there. I was so scared for those 10 minutes. My friends were, “Well, you cracked some jokes.” I was, “Really? What did I say?” I just went with it. Then a lot of it, too, at least for me, unfortunately, my mom would say. Before the show, they'll have free wine. If you're the singer, they give you all the wine you want. I have a couple glasses of wine and I loosen up. I usually go to the gig, make a plan, then I'll get tipsy and poorly execute the plan.
Sean Crawford:
Are all of these stories that you tell true or is there just a grain of truth in some of them?
Todd Snider:
They're surprisingly true. Every once in a while I'll change a little bit of something, to make myself sound smarter. The cool thing about being a storyteller is if you have a really great comeback and you don't think of it in the moment, you can just use it like, then I said this to the guy what I wish I'd have said. For the most part, all the stories on the record are true. Those stories all happened to me.
Todd Snider singing Beer Run:
B, double-E, double-R,U, N Beer run.
B, double-E, double-R,U, N Beer run.
All we need is a ten and a fiver
A car and a key, and a sober driver.
B, double-E, double-R,U, N Beer run.
Todd Snider singing Seattle Grunge Rock Blues:
Well, I was in this band going nowhere fast
We sent out our demo, but everybody passed
So one day, we finally took the plunge
We went out to Seattle. We started playing grunge,
Washington State, that is
Space Needle
Eddie Vedder
Ichiro Suzuki
Sean Crawford:
It's got to be good to be Todd Snider in the fact that you get paid to stand on a stage and, in many cases, say what's on your mind or what you believe in and talk about that to people. That has to be a pretty good gig.
Todd Snider:
I'm very fortunate and thankful for it, and I still look forward to it at my age, I'm 45. When I was 25, I met this guy named Bob Mercer who's a really big shot at music. He makes hit records. He was a business guy, not a producer. I don't know why he liked me, but he did. He gave me a chance, and I remember when he first got me signed up, he said, “You don't have to be on the radio. You don't have to do anything you don’t want to do. Do whatever you want.” He's, “Oh, so you're not going to have a big hit record either. You're just going to do your art.” That's all I want. He always looked out for me. He passed away a couple years ago, but he always kept me on that path of not changing everything just so we could maybe be on the radio. We always had fun. The key to it is not everyone likes everything that we do. That's all right. That doesn't make me mad at those people or make me think that they don't get something. What I'm trying to do hasn't been thought out to appeal to a lot of people. It's something like I do to amuse my friends, and then it spun into something other people watch.
Sean Crawford:
You've written about some pretty unique characters. I know you've done songs about D.B. Cooper, the famous skyjacker.
Todd Snider singing D.B. Cooper:
D.B. Cooper was 43 when we first heard his name
47 miles away from where he fell down to his fame
Sean Crawford:
Major league pitcher Doc Ellis, who once threw a no-hitter and later said he had done that while on LSD.
Todd Snider singing America's Favorite Pastime:
Doc Ellis didn't think he was pitching that day back in 1970,
When he and his wife took a trip to the ballpark a little bit differently.
Sean Crawford:
You've also tackled some topics like religion and politics.
Todd Snider singing Conservative, Christian, Right Wing Republican, Straight, White American Males:
Conservative, Christian,
right-wing Republican,
straight white
American males
Sean Crawford:
I would assume that you have an audience quite often that does not agree with what you have to say on stage.
Todd Snider:
Often, especially in the South where people aren't liberal, and I'm so liberal that the Democrats don't want me. That doesn't bother me If it makes somebody mad. You have to be in Texas or Mississippi for somebody to get so mad that they're going to wait out by the car for you. So far, I've been pretty lucky with that.
I like to come at it, even if I'm in Mississippi... I try to approach singing like it's a folk singer's job to say his opinion but it is not his job for that opinion to be right, or smart, or good, or educational. I don't I ever come at a show like, if you disagree with me, maybe you'll learn something here today, I don't. I barely know four chords and I didn't go to college. I barely got out of high school. I got about six brain cells left. There's only one thing that I want the audience to know, I don't share my opinions with people because I think they're smart. I share them because they rhyme. Sometimes that takes the air out of it. But for the most part, my stance on it is that the crowd can do whatever it wants, from cheering to helping me with stuff. I'm still going to go back to the room after and have a drink.
Sean Crawford:
I saw a quote of yours once where you said something to the effect of you didn't come to change anybody's mind. That wasn't the point of your show.
Todd Snider:
Yeah, I don't. If you learn something in my show, that's your fault, for sure.
Todd Snider singing Tension:
Well, they roped off almost all of my problems
And they pointed their fingers at drug addiction
‘Cause they know if you're the one doing the pointing
Nobody’s probably looking at you
But you know, this war on drugs is funded
By tobacco and alcohol commissions
It's not what drugs that you're strung out on they care about
So much as whose
People still dig drugs
Todd Snider singing Fortunate Son:
Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Oh, they're red, white, and blue
But when the band plays “Hail to the Chief”
They point the cannon at you
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no senator's son
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortune one
Todd Snider:
I don't want to change minds. If I do, that's fine, but I'm there to ease my own mind exclusively. For me, I do it because I enjoy doing it. If it ever became something where I was trying to figure out what people wanted or even trying to cater to people, I'd lose interest and end up going home. I've been lucky in that I can do whatever set I want and I seem to get away with it.
Todd Snider singing Alcohol and Pills:
Hank Williams
He came up from Montgomery
with a heart full of hard luck
country songs
But Nashville, Tennessee
They didn't understand him
’Cause he did things differently
Than the way that they were done
But when he finally made it to the Grand Old Opry
He made it stand still
He ended up on alcohol and pills.
