Todd Snider Has Passed Away: Honoring One Of The Greatest Voices in American Roots Music

Photo Credit: Todd Snider/Facebook

Todd Snider passed away on Friday. This one hurts.

Todd lived the kind of artistic life that felt unfiltered and cosmic, marked by humor, heartbreak, grit, and a spirit that refused to fade. Fans loved him because his songs felt alive. He wrote like a friend telling the truth. He performed like someone who understood that connection was the whole point. His passing leaves a space that American roots music will feel for a long time.

Here are 50 thing you need to know about the man.

50 Facts About Todd Snider

  1. Todd Snider was born on October 11, 1966 in Portland, Oregon.
  2. He grew up in Beaverton and graduated from Beaverton High School in 1985.
  3. After high school he attended Santa Rosa Junior College for one semester.
  4. He learned to play harmonica while studying in Santa Rosa.
  5. He moved to San Marcos, Texas with the help of his brother, who bought his plane ticket.
  6. He decided to become a songwriter after seeing Jerry Jeff Walker perform at Gruene Hall.
  7. He began writing songs the day after that show.
  8. He bought a guitar because of seeing Walker perform.
  9. His first writers night was at Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos.
  10. Kent Finlay became his early mentor and introduced him to writers like Prine and Kristofferson.
  11. He quickly began packing small rooms in San Marcos.
  12. He soon developed a following in Austin.
  13. While living in San Marcos he discovered the music of Keith Sykes.
  14. Snider sent Sykes a demo tape that led him to move to Memphis.
  15. He earned a weekly residency at The Daily Planet in Memphis.
  16. Audiences at The Daily Planet already knew his songs and sang along.
  17. He met John Prine in 1991 while assisting on preproduction for Prine’s album The Missing Years.
  18. In 1992 he signed a development deal with Capitol Records.
  19. Capitol declined to pick up his option for a full album.
  20. His early band was called the Bootleggers before he renamed them the Nervous Wrecks.
  21. By 1994 the Nervous Wrecks lineup included Will Kimbrough, Joe Mariencheck, and Joe McLeary.
  22. He signed with Margaritaville Records after Bob Mercer saw him perform in Memphis.
  23. His debut album Songs for the Daily Planet reached number 23 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart.
  24. The hidden track Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues became a minor radio hit.
  25. The Alright Guy video was in rotation on VH1.
  26. Billboard praised his second album Step Right Up as more stunning than his debut.
  27. His third album Viva Satellite was recorded mainly at Ardent Studios in Memphis.
  28. He was released from his MCA contract after an incident at a private performance.
  29. He next signed with John Prine’s Oh Boy Records.
  30. His album Happy To Be Here was recorded solo acoustic with instrumentation added later.
  31. New Connection was released by Oh Boy in 2002.
  32. His 2003 live album Near Truths and Hotel Rooms documented his post Wrecks solo shows.
  33. East Nashville Skyline was released in 2004 and became a cultural breakthrough.
  34. Pitchfork called East Nashville Skyline the wittiest and feistiest album of his career.
  35. The album included the songs Play a Train Song and The Ballad of the Kingsmen.
  36. He released Peace, Love and Anarchy, a collection of rarities, in 2007.
  37. That Was Me collected material from his Margaritaville and MCA years.
  38. The Devil You Know was released in 2006 and reached number 4 on the Heatseekers chart.
  39. He performed material from The Devil You Know at Grimey’s in Nashville in 2006.
  40. He launched his own label, Aimless Records, in 2008.
  41. Peace Queer was Aimless Records’ first release.
  42. His album The Excitement Plan was produced by Don Was and released in 2009.
  43. His double disc Live: The Storyteller was released in 2011.
  44. He released Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables in 2012.
  45. That same year he released a tribute album to Jerry Jeff Walker titled Time As We Know It.
  46. He cofounded the band Hard Working Americans in 2013.
  47. The First Waltz documentary and live recordings were released in 2014.
  48. Hard Working Americans released their second album Rest in Chaos in 2016.
  49. Snider released the folk focused Cash Cabin Sessions Vol. 3 in 2019.
  50. He died on November 14, 2025, following complications that developed after a violent assault eleven days earlier.