Todd Snider, the American roots-rock and alt-country pioneer whose storytelling, slacker-with-a-heart-of-gold songs like “Alright Guy” and “Beer Run” made him one o’ them musicians’-musicians like his heroes Jon Prine and Kris Kristofferson, has died, his record label announced Saturday. He was 59.
Snider’s family said in a statement that he had been diagnosed with pneumonia at a Tennessee hospital before his condition worsened, forcing a transfer to another facility. The singer had just recently canceled a tour after he was violently assaulted Nov. 3 in the Salt Lake City area.
“Where do we find the words for the one who always had the right words, who knew how to distill everything down to its essence with words and song while delivering the most devastating, hilarious, and impactful turn of phrases?” his label said in a statement. “Always creating rhyme and meter that immediately felt like an old friend or a favorite blanket. Someone who could almost always find the humor in this crazy ride on Planet Earth.”
It was not immediately clear whether the Utah incident was related to his pneumonia diagnosis in Nashville. Before returning home, Snider had been arrested by Salt Lake City police when he refused to leave a hospital there and later returned to threaten staffers, according to local reports.
Snider’s cosmic-stoner persona was in full force for his latest album, “High, Lonesome and Then Some,” which he was preparing to take out on tour. Though he never quite achieved anything like true stardom, he was well-known around music circles and collaborated with the greats, including a song he co-wrote and performed with Loretta Lynn on her critically acclaimed 2016 record “Full Circle.”
His finest work was, by consensus, “East Nashville Skyline,” released in 2003 by Prine’s independent label Oh Boy. Though he settled in Nashville, Snider honed his craft in San Marcos, Texas (near Austin) and was born and raised in Oregon.
“He relayed so much tenderness and sensitivity through his songs, and showed many of us how to look at the world through a different lens,” his label said. “He got up every morning and started writing, always working toward finding his place among the songwriting giants that sat on his record shelves.”
