Album review: Todd Snider – First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder
I first experienced Todd Snider when he was opening for John Prine in 2002 at the Paramount Theatre in Austin. I was there for Prine. I didn’t know this “Snider- with-an ‘I’ guy”. I ran late, as I am chronically late. When I got to the Paramount, I was relieved Prine wasn’t on as of yet (I had forgotten there was an opening act), and I saw this skinny young guy, barefoot on stage with a guitar, totally fucking stealing the show and making this stage his own.
I was wrapped up in Todd Snider from the get go. He held the audience and carried us wherever he wanted us to go, tossing stories and songs at our emotions with the ease of a masterful raconteur used to those gathered to hang off his every word. I love Todd Snider.
First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder (FACHW for short) is Snider’s latest offering. No longer a “kid”, no longer finding his way, he is a mentor to a new generation, though I doubt he sees himself as such. This record is fresh. It at first feels like an experiment as Todd moves out of his comfort zone, showcasing many of his musical talents he has grown over the years. He plays several instruments, sings backing vocals, and includes top notch liner notes, professing to the world we can trust him. He is a reverend.
If you’re like me, you’re late to downloading music. I like the hard copy. I prefer records. I like to read the album notes, the liner notes. I like to know where the record was recorded, and engineered. I like to know who produced, and what musicians played on what songs, who took the cover art, what building that is on the background of the cover art. I want to know everything. From a live convert where I first saw Snider, I know he feels the same.
I want to preface this by saying: I love Todd Snider. I feel he is a master songwriter, who did not merely follow in the foot steps of outstanding and pioneering troubadours before him, who he admired, but that he has made is own way, originated his own sound and songs, fought his own demons, found his own light, and stepped up to a level of artistic expression seldom experienced. I love him and his music, but I often do not enjoy his albums. As I feel they do not best capture the very essence that is Todd Snider.
I hate reviews that try to dissect an artist work and translate it into simpler terms. I’d rather they just don’t. Just leave it to the rest of us to figure out if we do or do not get the inspiration poured into a project. People telling others how to feel about what they think someone else has expressed and created is some superior, narcissistic type of thinking.
But I will tell you this new record is brand, spanking, new. It is fresh, funny, heart warming, and funky as all get out. There is a vibe to the recording that carries your mind to the warmest place and peeks inside your back door thoughts to suggest you indulge in life rather than endure it. Experience it, rather that fear it, love it, over hating it. We can, of course trust Todd Snider, he is a reverend.
An artist has a duty to society to not only create, but to foster original and critical thinking in the creative process. He should use his influence to broaden the minds of those who experience the creative product. A great singer songwriter can make you laugh. A master can make you cry. The best, make you think, even if you are not accustomed to it. Snider achieves all these objectives deftly.
First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder is Snider’s 19th album. He usually keeps busy touring, but due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, like most people with a conscience, he has stayed in and released live streams he calls “The Get Together” each week.
Snider more recently announced tour some dates, including back-to-back sold out shows at the Kessler Theatre in Dallas June 3 and the Paramount Theatre in Austin June 4. He also made this fantastic record.
Check out Snider’s website for full tour schedule, news, and merchandise. (I just can not call it “merch”, sorry- I’m old).
