September 15, 2025 • 36 mins
Check out this classic replay with singer songwriter Todd Snider and his unique take on the world around him. Todd talks influences, inspiration and life on the road. He is a troubadour at heart.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Music is like a magic thing. I think can do that.
It might I may be talking about you know how
some people will just take a drug over and over
because they're certain of any day now it's don't know
they're going to not need it anymore, because it's they
saw it, you know. I guess I like keep hoping
to get it whatever it is, whatever it is, to
(00:23):
get with it. I don't want to get with it.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I'm Buzz's Night, your host for the Taking a Walk podcast,
the podcast where I talk to musicians about the inside
stories of their creative process, their latest projects, and stories
of the road Today. My guess is a true artist
and a troubadour at heart. Todd Snyder. Todd has an
amazing career as a singer songwriter whose music spans folk, rock, blues,
(00:49):
also with a little bit of alt, country and funk.
He's currently going on a retrospective journey spanning three decades,
unveiling his complete discography included with new recollections, all for
free for his fans. Talking to Todd Snyder right now,
I'm taking a Walk. Todd Snyder, thanks for being on
(01:11):
Taking a Walk. It's an honor to be with you.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So you're unveiling your complete discography and its acoustic glory
recorded at the Purple Building, and each release features these
re recorded versions and personal reflections and it's fruble e free.
Tell me what motivated you to do this for your
(01:37):
loyal diehard fans.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Mostly I think that I want kids. It was like,
I guess legacy is that the word like when of
them gone? I wanted to make sure that those were
someplace people could hear them. They were like to me,
they're my favorite versions of the songs. Even though it's
like because I can do what I'd do on these records,
(02:03):
I got to learn music, play around with different kinds
of music, go through fads, mostly because I could stand
up by myself and tell people how time I made
up a song and play it, and then record companies
be like, if you want, I'm a drummer, you can.
I didn't have to. I just wanted to. I wanted
to learn music. But like I said, just naturally, I
(02:23):
feel like I came out of my mom doing that
thing where I liked that these were by myself and
I make up a song and I explain it and
then I play it. I can get fed that way.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And really it's been enjoyment first. That has been your
motivation and then everything else coming second.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, I mostly wanted to drop out of when I
was young. My plan was to be at like one
of the Dead Hitden, Like there's a group of kids
at that time that were just dropping out and being bums.
And then I found guitar and busking, and then that
turned in to a way of life. I found round
with Jack Elliott. It feels like if you're honest, if
(03:05):
you make up honest songs, you can pretty much bullshit
the rest of the time.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Tell me what inspired you first to make music? And
when that was so, you said, literally out of the womb,
you said.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, I think, But really I left home when I
was fifteen and became My friend said I was a gypsy.
And then I saw Jerry Jeff Walker playing and I
felt like I was his son. I felt like I
was living when he was singing about He was playing
by himself and singing linear songs, and I just thought,
(03:40):
That's what I'm supposed to do. I felt like the
way I was living my life at the time, if
I had a guitar where I can make up songs
about whoever was giving me a ride or let me
stay or whatever. I just thought I would be a
way better traveler or whatever. You know. Then I got
bit by the notion of wanting to make an own.
This guy Key Sykes, who told me he said I
(04:03):
was good. He is really good friends with John. He
writes with John running guy. My dad found his address
at the bar. Someone at the bar had his editors.
He helped me and got me a record deal and
showed me that if I got a record deal, I
could go around the world.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Do you remember the first song you wrote and what
it was about?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I do? That was I called bus Tubs stew and
I was a bus boy because again I had I
had just seen this Gary jeffs like I got just
things about his life. And so I made up a
song I was a bus boy. It's a place called
Peppers at the Falls, and I made up a song
about how if people didn't finish their meal, I would
eat it, you know. And when I got up on
(04:44):
the stage and fight and won, like I think I'm supposed.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
To be doing this, that cemented it.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, And then I made up a couple more went
open mics, and I made up, and then I just
made up like fourteen total and started playing right away.
I started playing nineteen when I only had one job before,
it was a busboy.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Was that your plan b being a bus boy?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Uh huh, Well that's part of why I felt like
it was. I didn't have anything to fall back on
or anything to blow or my parents weren't going to
be ashamed or anything else. Just it was it was
going to be a bus boy. So why not pour
your heart out for a living? It's kind of neat.
It's an easy grift. Just you say how you feel,
(05:31):
don't bullshit about it, and sing with the pleasure chords
and you can get a ride in you or you know,
you end up in the bus.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Tell me about I mean, we could do just a
whole podcast just done the impact of Jerry Jeff on
you and John Pryna on you. But tell me how
special they were to know them.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
They were close friends. And when I saw Jerry Jeff,
I went to the record store in San Marcus and
started getting all the records and the guy there, so
you have to try John Prime too. Then I went
and got all his things, obsessed on him, saw him
in Austin, and then he was friends with Keith Sykes,
(06:18):
and so I went down there and I was studying
under Keith. He had just taken me in. I found
out later that this is what we do. Some true
door knocks on my door off the levement. So when
John made the Missing Years, I was getting cigarettes and
everything for everybody, and I knew all his songs. I
could beat him in the tribute contest about himself. He
(06:42):
must have loved that we were close, although it was
more fathers son. I never got jocular with him. I
was always really respectful, like we weren't punching the shoulder buddies.
He would have done be hard on me sometimes, but
he would also tell me that he loved me.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Who was arder on you? Jerry Jeff or John Jerry Jeff.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I had one time I gave I think thirteen songs
that have just written to John and he said, man,
you got a great that's a great song you got
in there, and that was that was kind of the worst.
But once he said that, that opened the door for
him to show me what he meant by that, and
I got to study songs under him. He got them.
But Jerry Jeff and I bonded on music and asco
(07:28):
rep scaliation or after the show up title, and so
sometimes we'd get into argument. If we couldn't find someone
else to argue with, we'd argue with each other. I
stole his car. I mean we had some ship. One
time me and him were arguing. He drove right passed
his gig and we ended up in a different towns.
(07:49):
He's the freest person I know, or he was. You know,
we liked each other because we didn't have neither of us.
Will watch either of you, I'm sorry, like wore a
watch or cared about being in someplace a certain time. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
How many fistfights did you get into with Jerry Jeff?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
None?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
None, just yelling a few times. I like Blue one
of my own shows. He really Shaver hit me. Yeah,
he had stacked all these bills on the kitchen table
on me. We didn't know we'd messed.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Them up, but he walked in and just right with
his bald up face right in my mouth, and then
he hit any too.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
You can't make this up.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Huh mm hmmm. I miss him. He was also a
loud person, Billy Joe Shaver, Yeah, adventurous, person shot Hello.
That's tough.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Loss is such a terrible part of life, and obviously
with John's loss and Jerry Jeff's and then most recently
the loss of another friend who I know you spoke
with all the time, Richard Lewis. Tell me what Richard
meant to you.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I was closer to Richard really than any of them
because he we don't He and I mostly stay to ourselves,
and we get on and off the phone multiple times.
We talked a lot every day. And then I knew
he was getting I mean, he didn't die of what
he would say, each had a heart attack, but he
was tired from fighting. He've had a really bad couple
of years with his health. Like I called him about everything,
(09:34):
and that's kind of the last guy, you know, the
last mentor I think I'm fifty seven, so it's my
turn to ask. There's this kid named Josh morning Star.
It's really good. It just was broped me this morning.
You know, he's going through some issues and stuff and
he called me and I'm I guess it's my turn
(09:55):
to listen.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
And how did you first meet Richard?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
He wrote me a letter on the computer, just out
of the blue. It was, Oh, I know what it
was too. He had a group of this adorable and
this is him to his wife Joyce and him you know,
well she's still interacted me. But he had a group
of about four guys he talked to every day all
(10:19):
the time, and like two of them died and he's
really neurotic. He couldn't deal with that. He had his
four people, and his wife said you got to you
have to replace them, and he sat around thinking about
and he wrote me a letter. I was like, I
literally like I kind of looking for someone to talk
to every day. I had this little group. My wife
says I should replace the guys that were in it.
(10:42):
He knew all my albums and stuff, and I knew
everything about him. And I had this story I tell
called about taking mushrooms and I got home from two
of them. He had left it on my machine, like
he told it on my machine and that was the
biggest compliment. But he uh, he'd like, who I've talked
about rurals and stuff anything anything. Yeah, Yeah, Like I
(11:06):
had to say, I had a lady break into my
house and he has that kind stuff all with him.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Just the oddities of life, right, Yeah, tell me about
your songwriting process, how it works, How do you turn
an idea into a finished song?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Okay, I mean I'm enjoying this, thank you me too.
When I started, it was like this healing thing like
I was. I think it was angry at like my
parents are going through divorce, and I sang about it,
and it's like mancho almost of course you really repeating something,
it's a good So I learned to use it as
(11:47):
a tool like that to get moved past things. And
then that so if it felt like it helped, I
thought it was done, and then it became this thing
I could use at work. Then there's another thing like
which ones go to work, which wants to show up
for a walk, And those are like harder, like to
know if a song is going to move other people.
(12:09):
It's hard trying to. I try not just play songs
that I don't think other people relate to, because I
make up some that I know are too singular or whatever. Well,
let's see there's some that I just It takes a
long time and then one day it's that's a that's
a good question. It takes a while and minute it
feels like at some point I know that it's done.
(12:33):
I wonder how other people do. There's this guy named
Kent Finley who showed me how to do it, like
meter and everything, but trying to say exactly what you're
trying to say and be concise about it and turn
as the readiest to take the poetry out and ask
yourself while you're really saying this, and you know, make
(12:55):
and just make sure there's a it has either's a
rock that there's something in it. For me, it's like
even dB Cooper, it's just a story about the guy
that jumped out of the plane that I don't know,
but there's a part in there where I talk about
how my dad and I disagree on what we hope
happens to him. And for me, that's the rock I
(13:16):
put my foot on when I sing that song. And
if I don't have something like that in there, why
am I telling people about dB Cooper. It doesn't move
me until I get to the part where I realized
me and my father's starting to see things differently, and
that's what BB Cooper And so I always want there
to be something like that in there somewhere, or if
(13:39):
there's not, it feels like a year after I start
playing it. It feels heavy, it feels like it goes
on a very long time. I've got songs that are
about girls. I don't really know that, Like on my
first or second I got a couple of REP songs.
There's a song called turn it Up. Just made it
up out of there. I don't know who those people
(13:59):
are or what they're talking about. Just mort I said,
because I had a riff and that song feels like
it goes on for hours. Play.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
But you eventually tire of some of your songs, don't you?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Uh huh most Yeah, some of them?
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah, And why are you so tough on yourself in
that regard that you tire of them and kind of
just dig aggravated at him?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, I I don't think that might just be yeah,
I don't know. I wish I could stop it because
some people are like that these are my kids, and
I'm like my kids. Some of them really love me.
In fact, there's thing that's coming out that's out I
think more of them. There's songs where I'll play and
I'll talk about why I don't like that. No, I'll
play which I was glad to get the chance to
(14:50):
go on record like that.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
It gets it off your chest, right.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah, there's a song called positively Negative. That's just this
thing I felt for about ten minutes enough to get
the song, you know, and then by the time the
song came out that wasn't mad about that.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
But you blend so brilliantly social commentary and humor. How
do you sort of balanced that or do you thank you?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I think that tried to. Like, I don't feel like
anyone knows, Like when it comes to politics, the reason
why we argue about these things because we don't know
for sure what to do. There's like two really basic people,
Like it's science. There's like a certain person who's sort
of moving forward or thinks tomorrow is gonna be great.
(15:40):
There's another person that thinks yesterday was great, and we
get separated on that, like and so for Democrats, they
market we other people what they call blue wall or whatever.
And then there's people that think yesterday was the vator
in general, and they get I think it's like you,
I don't even know if it's your choice to those
(16:00):
sides you lean on or whatever. So like politics, I
don't take that seriously. It's like a form of entertainment
or a racket. Like it's a low grow form of
entertainment and it doesn't pay as much as it should
for as much as their lives as they have to
(16:20):
give to this act or whatever. I feel sampled because
they're punching bag the politician is like anyoney, we were
going to off set politicians or bullshit line pieces of shit,
that's the way to stop an argument. They're all pieces
of shit, and it's just a racket, and so I
don't take it seriously. I look at them all like
(16:42):
their wrestlers, and I hope their kids get that they're
pro wrestlers. Sometimes they fix potholes every once in a while,
or sometimes they fuck things up, but don't really do
a ton up, they're say in Washington, And so when
I thing i've been all day, I don't feel like
(17:03):
I don't get angry about it, Like Trump doesn't make
me angry. Things amusing I am. I'm the Democrats. I
don't want him to be the president. I didn't like
it when he was before, but just because because I
think tomorrow is gonna be terrific, and they got me.
I love about doing hippie what just reels it could be.
(17:23):
I'm just that and I can admit it. I don't
even care, you know, yeah, like half the time, if
it's a protest and there's a good band, you know,
tell me I'm coming the tip shit.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
But you are the unofficial mayor of East Nashville. So
if you were handed the keys to making decisions as
a political leader, what would your motto be?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Oh, that's the whole type for our side. I love
what's happened on the east side of town, I feel like,
because that's like Billy String, Sierra Ferrel. I think jelly
Roll even live over on our side of town. Now, hm,
let's see, because it feels like those cats on the
mainstream people there they don't know. I mean, I'm just
(18:11):
watching as a fan. I'm part of it. I think
maybe I'll get a song cut sometimes. But it feels
like that's the thing on Sixteenth Avenue where they have
the system that's worked for over forever and over and
never it got rathered by a few guys that didn't
go through it, I think, and then they're cuge. It's like, broadly,
I don't know. I think some of the big stars
(18:33):
don't have any friends on sixteenth Avenue and that so
they're kind of I think they're kind of calling time
out and trying to I think they're like studying Jason
Isabel for a minute. And I'm not sure where we're
country music's going to go. But right now it seems
like that cat, Jason Aldean who said something racist I guess,
(18:56):
or something that defended PPIs. And then so this other kid,
there's another kid who offended hippies, and they're they're the
only people making it happen right now in that I
think sixteen down it was about itself caught up in
whatever's going on in America, you know what I mean,
they're going to get themselves out of politics, I think,
(19:20):
because I don't think they're meant to get there.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You know, yeah Morgan, Morgan Wall and maybe you were
talking about Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
That kid, that kid, he fucked up. I think through
something somebody or but I know he said did something racist.
I don't know what it was or if you I mean,
but like they're rallying around that kid like that, as
if they're rallying around those cats, as if they shot
a protestor like they're standing up for them. You know
(19:49):
what I mean. It's like you know red neck people
who don't like people that don't look by themselves and
to the point that they're angry about it. They wanted
to find they were coming to the rescue of these
two guys, and the rest of the town's getting kind
of artsy.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
We'll be right back with the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast. What do
you think Jerry Jeff would have thought about what's going
on these days?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Oh? God, I think he would have liked what was
going on music, But I don't know. Well, we'll really
depend on if he was drinking or not, because if
he was drinking, whatever is causing chaos, and no matter
if it's positive or negative, it's hard to understand's headquard,
So he'd like all the chaos, even though some of
(20:43):
it has been of course, a lot of it's been violent.
But man, he had a way of letting go of
everything in a way that didn't make you think that
he was ignoring people's troubles. Sometimes it's like, oh, you're
on for a second. He was a gifted at free
(21:05):
in his mind. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Last following, Yeah, did your father impact your storytelling unbelievable abilities?
Was he one of the greatest influences in that regard.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I think. So the first time I saw Jerry Jeff,
I thought that's my dad, except for my dad wasn't
for real. So I remember saying, he's not hurting anymore,
you know, And I remember think, yeah, my dad would
have been a good troubadour. He was a criminal, but
like a very successful one. He died when he was
(21:39):
only fifty four. He was part of was this guy
named George never Say in Oregon. He brought heroin to
the Great North less like the early sixties and set
up his team in Beaverton, Oregon. And that's what my
dad was. That worked for him. And it was weird
(22:00):
way it was a little soprano like without that the
way of sounding. It didn't sound like that. But there
was always a couple of guys standing around with people.
Don't believe me that, So that's that's true.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Oh I believe you.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
What do you think is the most significant milestone to
date in your career?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Right after that, when you said that, I thought, I
went on the tour right before or after I think
it was before the pandemic with Bramlin Jack Elliott and
spent like two weeks on the.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
Bus with him, and I felt like that confirmed a lot.
I mean, I felt like I learned a lot. I
felt like I confirmed a lot about what we're doing.
And he was always like, would always put me to bed.
He was always ready to go the bus and could
do something. He's ninety two and so he was really.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Into traveling, and so we would go find cars and
buses and boats and things to look at during the day.
It's just really active and just seeing somebody who jumped
in head first to this lifestyle being so still so
glad that he did, still so free, still so amused
(23:10):
and interested, and it made me think that, like there's
a fourth quarter, there's a little bit left, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Tell me what the Towns van Zant has meant to you.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
When I met The first time I saw him was
some Keith Sykes took me to a Christmas party at
a bar. There was a whole Holden family and I
didn't know what that meant. And when we went into
the back too, we went into the kitchen, and when
we walked in the back kitchen at his bars, Guy
Clark in town Van Aunt, John Prime and Nancy Griffith,
(23:45):
and they're playing the game where you throw dice on
the wall and they had money in their hands and
they're shouting, you know, and I never met I only
knew jump. And then at a certain point, guys, I
mean Towns came and sat down next to me and
grabbed my arm and I could tell he was starting
to cry. And he said, I said, what's the matter,
(24:07):
And he said, this is all fucked up? And I said,
what's all fucked up? And then they all brow it
in laughter it and he was like, this is all
I never knew what I meant, you know that, but
it hurt me for him. And then after they all
went to Jones and traded songs. I was the only
other person there. I just got up a record thing,
but they didn't. I didn't play any songs. And then
(24:30):
after that guy in Town's were really nice to me.
They call me Keith or Psikes as a kid, and
the only take you in. Now I get it, and
you know you have to. And I was the first
person to tell me that, like the people that came
after me were going to make me jealous, and if
only for being younger. And you just can't you can't
(24:51):
be that, you can't do that. You have to go
the other way. You have to give everything you have
to everybody that's doing this, and it works. It really is.
It's not a lot of people that just want to
be a troubadour, not very many at all. And those
guys really looked up that were just good to each other,
they weren't rights.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Don't you think there's people who pose as troubadours and
then there's people who really are troubadours.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Probably so you could sniff them. I bet you could
sniff them a mile away.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Though usually I sometimes I feel like I can. First
time I met Isabelle and the first time I saw
Sierra Farrell, I knew, and yeah, there is a it's
a calling or something. It definitely doesn't feel like a
thing that you can plan. I didn't. I didn't have
(25:46):
a goal, you know, And then I was living like
this first and then it was like, look at these guys.
They lived the same way, but they have a guitar.
Seems like they get an extra extra stupid everything.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
What's the biggest challenge in your career that you've faced,
or that you've faced to this day.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Right now, I feel like in the last couple of years,
I haven't I'm played because of my be to call
like a it sounds darker than this. They call it
a dark knight of the soul where you where. I'm
like not sure how much I'm going to be able
to play again. I haven't played in a couple of
almost a couple of years, and I'm trying to get healthy.
(26:33):
You know, I'm not not off drugs. I'm not on drugs.
If if almost on drugs, I could go play. But
I can't live like that. And it's gotten I'm in
a lot of thing all the time, not to dig though.
And I said, I'm going to the chiropractor after this,
and there's this guy that is I think it's starting
to help me. I want to play game, but that
(26:56):
so that part of it, like trying to figure out
be if I wasn't that I'm not so far come
up with nothing.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
And then I think meeting heroes and not because of them,
not because oh, because they turned out to be jerks,
just it's intimidating. It's like being around like it was
intimidating to be around John Jimmy Buffet of those people,
but Buffet in particular was somebody like I really wanted
(27:26):
to be a friend to him, and he needed friends,
but they you'd have to be a genius.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
You were going to have to be one of those
guys Steve Jobs and those were his friends, people that
were running on them. I mean, I've been around that.
I mean, now I'm bad about him, but that I
knew a lot of languages for Star Wars. He was
a master surfer, master fisherman, master of pilot. You're not
like the rest. I wasn't like people that was. He
(27:54):
was hard, like not hard to be around, but you
felt like, you know, it's such. I wasn't slapping on
the back and telling them jokes. I was just like, damn,
you want to fly now? Okay?
Speaker 1 (28:07):
And he kept, you know, having this zest for his
performance and connecting with his fans and you know, kind
of keeping that fire always burning, right.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
I think of him as the best troubador that. Yeah.
And he learned it from Jared Jeff, who learned it
from Rongland Jet. And Jared Jeff took him to Q
West and he was to say he could parallel park
a pirate ship and I'm not I'm not kidding, he
can tas say it. So he went down there and
(28:38):
found more of than music. Yeah, he found the way
lock he created Jimmy Buffett understand there and then got
to be.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
And the whole time miss him dearly. I'm sure crazy.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I'm still really close to his knees. And that has
been a really hard one because he is like there
was a like for me, particularly like he just said
you can be a singer now wouldn't be talking to
you because he decided one day to let me. Thanks
doing that twenty times a year ever since the song
(29:12):
came out, just like you can do this, you can always?
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Are you happy how you have evolved as a musician
and a troubadour.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Thank you for asking me that. I'm really happy with
the guitar playing and the harmon playing. That makes me.
I feel like I've really come a long way on
those things. And then Troubadour and I feel like I
got through a no hitter and then I've been't like
that took my first like this is the first break
(29:41):
I've ever taken a I went I ran away at fifteen,
went on the road at about twenty seven and never stopped.
And I feel I know that Ramblin Jack is proud
of the that lifestyle there's a camp where I'm I'm
teached like that Teachi, which is a grip in itself.
(30:04):
But there's a camp in which stock were. Last year
I did it. It was supposed to be a songwriting camp,
and this year it's a freewheel and tribute or camp.
And I'm like, there's way more to it than just
making up songs. You got to learn to sleep anywhere,
or you got to learn how to jump in the
car just because the doors open. All that shit. I
(30:25):
love that.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
I want to ask you about some of your favorite
venues and then some of your least favorite venues right right.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
That is fun. Let's see I can do that. Let's
say Green Hall because I saw Jerry Jeff there and
I was like, this is what I am. And then
there's a place.
Speaker 7 (30:46):
Called Alice's Champagne Palace in Homer, Alaska that it is
like that town if somebody was looking for a travel tip.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
That's the kind of town you can go and meet
everyone there and become you know everyone there come back.
It's not like that community and I feel like I'm
part of it. And then Santa Cruz they used to
have these fat fries outside and that town too. The
radio station in that town. There's a community around that
it's fun to go fall into just see what they're
(31:19):
doing tonight and then say I was I going to say, Oh,
the last one would be Key West because I first
time I went down there was a Jimmy So I've
got that place dialed in pretty good. And it is
the tubadour. In the nineties, when I went down there,
there was like music on all the streets up and
(31:40):
down New Ball. But now if you go up and
down the Ball, it's one guy telling stories and singing
his own songs and people are paying attention to It's
like there's a buffet, there's somebody doing my shit. There's
twelve gigs to do what I do every night on
one street. So if you're into that too, if you're
(32:02):
in the like Boatcraft and Nate and songwriting types, there's
a ship coming qus and they're working at lots of gigs,
and so I'm going down there for a while and
I know those guys.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Do you have any hobbies other than being a troubadour
and a musician.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I'm a good gardener, our gardener, and I'm a walker,
Like I think this that I walk a few times
a day and a garden meditate, like to meditate, which
is mean to just sit there. That's about it. That's
my things.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
I think, what advice would you give to aspiring musicians
that are listening to this podcast?
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I will go in through it if you're see some
people go into it to succeed and other people go
into it to escape the part of the world that
is focused on success. You can go trying to be
a star, or you can be Vince Herman, which is
(33:07):
like he's just like I've kind of been allowed to
I don't know if you known. I'm talking about his
leftover salmon and he's a s bonifide. What do you
call when people figure out there you go and shake it.
He used his time onous to do that and got
away with it by playing mandolin and singing, not making
(33:28):
big buss, you know. So it's like I went into
it because I felt like I had already was the
big say tune in, drop out it. So it's like,
if you if you want to have kids or be
responsible or be don't do it. Don't try to. You're
not going to succeed in a way that you're going
to send you a kid to private school or whatever.
(33:51):
And if you do like em, when Jack said, music
is good for like a horse or a truck, and
the rest is grab ass. And if you know that
you might end up with your own ranch accident, you
might end up like Jimmy Buffade. But if you think
you're gonna end up like Jimmy Buffet, you're just gonna
be it drunk. You gotta like when I started being
(34:16):
a singers because I knew that I was never going
to have any money. I was never going to do
anything like that. I was never going to have to
sit down and meet with anyone or anything like that.
That was the payment. And then like psychs was like,
you can go to Europe if you just get your
shit together for six months.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
That's what I told Sierra God in closing, what have
you not learned about life or being a musician that
you're still in.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Search of that thing Vinny did? And I do think
I'm getting closer. I would like to run out of
things to say and shake my personality completely, even know
it's pretty warming, like he and then I've got alan
want too. In the last few years of so like
I didn't really talk anymore and he only really just
(35:11):
laughed and made funny sounds and stuff. And I could
see that happen in the bending and I'm trying to
get right in line behind me. I would like that.
I would like to go be like, go completely mad.
I guess is what someone might say, Oh, just get
rid of shake my name, you know, get back to
(35:33):
before you take on them.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I think, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
It sounds some Hippi ship, but music. I think someday
they're going to figure out frequencies and like the in
like music is like a magic thing. I think can
do that. I may be talking about, you know how
some people like will just take a drug over and
over because they're certain at any day now it's gonna
they're going to not need it anymore because it's they
(35:58):
saw it, you know. I guess I'm keep hoping to
get it whatever it is, you know, whatever it is,
to get with it.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I want to get with it. Thanks for getting with
it with me, man, Thank you, man. I so enjoyed this.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Thank you Man, I did too.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Thanks for being on right on man, I can't wait here. Yeah,
I'll keep you posted. Thanks for everything, seriously. Thanks good
luck at the doc too. Thanks for listening. To this
Taking a Walk episode with Todd Snyder. A quick shout
out thanks to one of our Ohio friends and supporters
of Taking a Walk, Buck McK williams. Thanks for supporting
(36:39):
Taking a Walk. Buck. Taking a Walk is available on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Music is like a magic thing. I think can do that.
It might I may be talking about you know how
some people will just take a drug over and over
because they're certain of any day now it's don't know
they're going to not need it anymore, because it's they
saw it, you know. I guess I like keep hoping
to get it whatever it is, whatever it is, to
(00:23):
get with it. I don't want to get with it.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I'm Buzz's Night, your host for the Taking a Walk podcast,
the podcast where I talk to musicians about the inside
stories of their creative process, their latest projects, and stories
of the road Today. My guess is a true artist
and a troubadour at heart. Todd Snyder. Todd has an
amazing career as a singer songwriter whose music spans folk, rock, blues,
(00:49):
also with a little bit of alt, country and funk.
He's currently going on a retrospective journey spanning three decades,
unveiling his complete discography included with new recollections, all for
free for his fans. Talking to Todd Snyder right now,
I'm taking a Walk. Todd Snyder, thanks for being on
(01:11):
Taking a Walk. It's an honor to be with you.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So you're unveiling your complete discography and its acoustic glory
recorded at the Purple Building, and each release features these
re recorded versions and personal reflections and it's fruble e free.
Tell me what motivated you to do this for your
(01:37):
loyal diehard fans.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Mostly I think that I want kids. It was like,
I guess legacy is that the word like when of
them gone? I wanted to make sure that those were
someplace people could hear them. They were like to me,
they're my favorite versions of the songs. Even though it's
like because I can do what I'd do on these records,
(02:03):
I got to learn music, play around with different kinds
of music, go through fads, mostly because I could stand
up by myself and tell people how time I made
up a song and play it, and then record companies
be like, if you want, I'm a drummer, you can.
I didn't have to. I just wanted to. I wanted
to learn music. But like I said, just naturally, I
(02:23):
feel like I came out of my mom doing that
thing where I liked that these were by myself and
I make up a song and I explain it and
then I play it. I can get fed that way.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And really it's been enjoyment first. That has been your
motivation and then everything else coming second.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, I mostly wanted to drop out of when I
was young. My plan was to be at like one
of the Dead Hitden, Like there's a group of kids
at that time that were just dropping out and being bums.
And then I found guitar and busking, and then that
turned in to a way of life. I found round
with Jack Elliott. It feels like if you're honest, if
(03:05):
you make up honest songs, you can pretty much bullshit
the rest of the time.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Tell me what inspired you first to make music? And
when that was so, you said, literally out of the womb,
you said.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, I think, But really I left home when I
was fifteen and became My friend said I was a gypsy.
And then I saw Jerry Jeff Walker playing and I
felt like I was his son. I felt like I
was living when he was singing about He was playing
by himself and singing linear songs, and I just thought,
(03:40):
That's what I'm supposed to do. I felt like the
way I was living my life at the time, if
I had a guitar where I can make up songs
about whoever was giving me a ride or let me
stay or whatever. I just thought I would be a
way better traveler or whatever. You know. Then I got
bit by the notion of wanting to make an own.
This guy Key Sykes, who told me he said I
(04:03):
was good. He is really good friends with John. He
writes with John running guy. My dad found his address
at the bar. Someone at the bar had his editors.
He helped me and got me a record deal and
showed me that if I got a record deal, I
could go around the world.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Do you remember the first song you wrote and what
it was about?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I do? That was I called bus Tubs stew and
I was a bus boy because again I had I
had just seen this Gary jeffs like I got just
things about his life. And so I made up a
song I was a bus boy. It's a place called
Peppers at the Falls, and I made up a song
about how if people didn't finish their meal, I would
eat it, you know. And when I got up on
(04:44):
the stage and fight and won, like I think I'm supposed.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
To be doing this, that cemented it.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, And then I made up a couple more went
open mics, and I made up, and then I just
made up like fourteen total and started playing right away.
I started playing nineteen when I only had one job before,
it was a busboy.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Was that your plan b being a bus boy?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Uh huh, Well that's part of why I felt like
it was. I didn't have anything to fall back on
or anything to blow or my parents weren't going to
be ashamed or anything else. Just it was it was
going to be a bus boy. So why not pour
your heart out for a living? It's kind of neat.
It's an easy grift. Just you say how you feel,
(05:31):
don't bullshit about it, and sing with the pleasure chords
and you can get a ride in you or you know,
you end up in the bus.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Tell me about I mean, we could do just a
whole podcast just done the impact of Jerry Jeff on
you and John Pryna on you. But tell me how
special they were to know them.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
They were close friends. And when I saw Jerry Jeff,
I went to the record store in San Marcus and
started getting all the records and the guy there, so
you have to try John Prime too. Then I went
and got all his things, obsessed on him, saw him
in Austin, and then he was friends with Keith Sykes,
(06:18):
and so I went down there and I was studying
under Keith. He had just taken me in. I found
out later that this is what we do. Some true
door knocks on my door off the levement. So when
John made the Missing Years, I was getting cigarettes and
everything for everybody, and I knew all his songs. I
could beat him in the tribute contest about himself. He
(06:42):
must have loved that we were close, although it was
more fathers son. I never got jocular with him. I
was always really respectful, like we weren't punching the shoulder buddies.
He would have done be hard on me sometimes, but
he would also tell me that he loved me.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Who was arder on you? Jerry Jeff or John Jerry Jeff.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I had one time I gave I think thirteen songs
that have just written to John and he said, man,
you got a great that's a great song you got
in there, and that was that was kind of the worst.
But once he said that, that opened the door for
him to show me what he meant by that, and
I got to study songs under him. He got them.
But Jerry Jeff and I bonded on music and asco
(07:28):
rep scaliation or after the show up title, and so
sometimes we'd get into argument. If we couldn't find someone
else to argue with, we'd argue with each other. I
stole his car. I mean we had some ship. One
time me and him were arguing. He drove right passed
his gig and we ended up in a different towns.
(07:49):
He's the freest person I know, or he was. You know,
we liked each other because we didn't have neither of us.
Will watch either of you, I'm sorry, like wore a
watch or cared about being in someplace a certain time. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
How many fistfights did you get into with Jerry Jeff?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
None?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
None, just yelling a few times. I like Blue one
of my own shows. He really Shaver hit me. Yeah,
he had stacked all these bills on the kitchen table
on me. We didn't know we'd messed.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Them up, but he walked in and just right with
his bald up face right in my mouth, and then
he hit any too.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
You can't make this up.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Huh mm hmmm. I miss him. He was also a
loud person, Billy Joe Shaver, Yeah, adventurous, person shot Hello.
That's tough.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Loss is such a terrible part of life, and obviously
with John's loss and Jerry Jeff's and then most recently
the loss of another friend who I know you spoke
with all the time, Richard Lewis. Tell me what Richard
meant to you.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I was closer to Richard really than any of them
because he we don't He and I mostly stay to ourselves,
and we get on and off the phone multiple times.
We talked a lot every day. And then I knew
he was getting I mean, he didn't die of what
he would say, each had a heart attack, but he
was tired from fighting. He've had a really bad couple
of years with his health. Like I called him about everything,
(09:34):
and that's kind of the last guy, you know, the
last mentor I think I'm fifty seven, so it's my
turn to ask. There's this kid named Josh morning Star.
It's really good. It just was broped me this morning.
You know, he's going through some issues and stuff and
he called me and I'm I guess it's my turn
(09:55):
to listen.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
And how did you first meet Richard?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
He wrote me a letter on the computer, just out
of the blue. It was, Oh, I know what it
was too. He had a group of this adorable and
this is him to his wife Joyce and him you know,
well she's still interacted me. But he had a group
of about four guys he talked to every day all
(10:19):
the time, and like two of them died and he's
really neurotic. He couldn't deal with that. He had his
four people, and his wife said you got to you
have to replace them, and he sat around thinking about
and he wrote me a letter. I was like, I
literally like I kind of looking for someone to talk
to every day. I had this little group. My wife
says I should replace the guys that were in it.
(10:42):
He knew all my albums and stuff, and I knew
everything about him. And I had this story I tell
called about taking mushrooms and I got home from two
of them. He had left it on my machine, like
he told it on my machine and that was the
biggest compliment. But he uh, he'd like, who I've talked
about rurals and stuff anything anything. Yeah, Yeah, Like I
(11:06):
had to say, I had a lady break into my
house and he has that kind stuff all with him.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Just the oddities of life, right, Yeah, tell me about
your songwriting process, how it works, How do you turn
an idea into a finished song?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Okay, I mean I'm enjoying this, thank you me too.
When I started, it was like this healing thing like
I was. I think it was angry at like my
parents are going through divorce, and I sang about it,
and it's like mancho almost of course you really repeating something,
it's a good So I learned to use it as
(11:47):
a tool like that to get moved past things. And
then that so if it felt like it helped, I
thought it was done, and then it became this thing
I could use at work. Then there's another thing like
which ones go to work, which wants to show up
for a walk, And those are like harder, like to
know if a song is going to move other people.
(12:09):
It's hard trying to. I try not just play songs
that I don't think other people relate to, because I
make up some that I know are too singular or whatever. Well,
let's see there's some that I just It takes a
long time and then one day it's that's a that's
a good question. It takes a while and minute it
feels like at some point I know that it's done.
(12:33):
I wonder how other people do. There's this guy named
Kent Finley who showed me how to do it, like
meter and everything, but trying to say exactly what you're
trying to say and be concise about it and turn
as the readiest to take the poetry out and ask
yourself while you're really saying this, and you know, make
(12:55):
and just make sure there's a it has either's a
rock that there's something in it. For me, it's like
even dB Cooper, it's just a story about the guy
that jumped out of the plane that I don't know,
but there's a part in there where I talk about
how my dad and I disagree on what we hope
happens to him. And for me, that's the rock I
(13:16):
put my foot on when I sing that song. And
if I don't have something like that in there, why
am I telling people about dB Cooper. It doesn't move
me until I get to the part where I realized
me and my father's starting to see things differently, and
that's what BB Cooper And so I always want there
to be something like that in there somewhere, or if
(13:39):
there's not, it feels like a year after I start
playing it. It feels heavy, it feels like it goes
on a very long time. I've got songs that are
about girls. I don't really know that, Like on my
first or second I got a couple of REP songs.
There's a song called turn it Up. Just made it
up out of there. I don't know who those people
(13:59):
are or what they're talking about. Just mort I said,
because I had a riff and that song feels like
it goes on for hours. Play.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
But you eventually tire of some of your songs, don't you?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Uh huh most Yeah, some of them?
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah, And why are you so tough on yourself in
that regard that you tire of them and kind of
just dig aggravated at him?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, I I don't think that might just be yeah,
I don't know. I wish I could stop it because
some people are like that these are my kids, and
I'm like my kids. Some of them really love me.
In fact, there's thing that's coming out that's out I
think more of them. There's songs where I'll play and
I'll talk about why I don't like that. No, I'll
play which I was glad to get the chance to
(14:50):
go on record like that.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
It gets it off your chest, right.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah, there's a song called positively Negative. That's just this
thing I felt for about ten minutes enough to get
the song, you know, and then by the time the
song came out that wasn't mad about that.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
But you blend so brilliantly social commentary and humor. How
do you sort of balanced that or do you thank you?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I think that tried to. Like, I don't feel like
anyone knows, Like when it comes to politics, the reason
why we argue about these things because we don't know
for sure what to do. There's like two really basic people,
Like it's science. There's like a certain person who's sort
of moving forward or thinks tomorrow is gonna be great.
(15:40):
There's another person that thinks yesterday was great, and we
get separated on that, like and so for Democrats, they
market we other people what they call blue wall or whatever.
And then there's people that think yesterday was the vator
in general, and they get I think it's like you,
I don't even know if it's your choice to those
(16:00):
sides you lean on or whatever. So like politics, I
don't take that seriously. It's like a form of entertainment
or a racket. Like it's a low grow form of
entertainment and it doesn't pay as much as it should
for as much as their lives as they have to
(16:20):
give to this act or whatever. I feel sampled because
they're punching bag the politician is like anyoney, we were
going to off set politicians or bullshit line pieces of shit,
that's the way to stop an argument. They're all pieces
of shit, and it's just a racket, and so I
don't take it seriously. I look at them all like
(16:42):
their wrestlers, and I hope their kids get that they're
pro wrestlers. Sometimes they fix potholes every once in a while,
or sometimes they fuck things up, but don't really do
a ton up, they're say in Washington, And so when
I thing i've been all day, I don't feel like
(17:03):
I don't get angry about it, Like Trump doesn't make
me angry. Things amusing I am. I'm the Democrats. I
don't want him to be the president. I didn't like
it when he was before, but just because because I
think tomorrow is gonna be terrific, and they got me.
I love about doing hippie what just reels it could be.
(17:23):
I'm just that and I can admit it. I don't
even care, you know, yeah, like half the time, if
it's a protest and there's a good band, you know,
tell me I'm coming the tip shit.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
But you are the unofficial mayor of East Nashville. So
if you were handed the keys to making decisions as
a political leader, what would your motto be?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Oh, that's the whole type for our side. I love
what's happened on the east side of town, I feel like,
because that's like Billy String, Sierra Ferrel. I think jelly
Roll even live over on our side of town. Now, hm,
let's see, because it feels like those cats on the
mainstream people there they don't know. I mean, I'm just
(18:11):
watching as a fan. I'm part of it. I think
maybe I'll get a song cut sometimes. But it feels
like that's the thing on Sixteenth Avenue where they have
the system that's worked for over forever and over and
never it got rathered by a few guys that didn't
go through it, I think, and then they're cuge. It's like, broadly,
I don't know. I think some of the big stars
(18:33):
don't have any friends on sixteenth Avenue and that so
they're kind of I think they're kind of calling time
out and trying to I think they're like studying Jason
Isabel for a minute. And I'm not sure where we're
country music's going to go. But right now it seems
like that cat, Jason Aldean who said something racist I guess,
(18:56):
or something that defended PPIs. And then so this other kid,
there's another kid who offended hippies, and they're they're the
only people making it happen right now in that I
think sixteen down it was about itself caught up in
whatever's going on in America, you know what I mean,
they're going to get themselves out of politics, I think,
(19:20):
because I don't think they're meant to get there.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You know, yeah Morgan, Morgan Wall and maybe you were
talking about Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
That kid, that kid, he fucked up. I think through
something somebody or but I know he said did something racist.
I don't know what it was or if you I mean,
but like they're rallying around that kid like that, as
if they're rallying around those cats, as if they shot
a protestor like they're standing up for them. You know
(19:49):
what I mean. It's like you know red neck people
who don't like people that don't look by themselves and
to the point that they're angry about it. They wanted
to find they were coming to the rescue of these
two guys, and the rest of the town's getting kind
of artsy.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
We'll be right back with the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast. What do
you think Jerry Jeff would have thought about what's going
on these days?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Oh? God, I think he would have liked what was
going on music, But I don't know. Well, we'll really
depend on if he was drinking or not, because if
he was drinking, whatever is causing chaos, and no matter
if it's positive or negative, it's hard to understand's headquard,
So he'd like all the chaos, even though some of
(20:43):
it has been of course, a lot of it's been violent.
But man, he had a way of letting go of
everything in a way that didn't make you think that
he was ignoring people's troubles. Sometimes it's like, oh, you're
on for a second. He was a gifted at free
(21:05):
in his mind. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Last following, Yeah, did your father impact your storytelling unbelievable abilities?
Was he one of the greatest influences in that regard.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I think. So the first time I saw Jerry Jeff,
I thought that's my dad, except for my dad wasn't
for real. So I remember saying, he's not hurting anymore,
you know, And I remember think, yeah, my dad would
have been a good troubadour. He was a criminal, but
like a very successful one. He died when he was
(21:39):
only fifty four. He was part of was this guy
named George never Say in Oregon. He brought heroin to
the Great North less like the early sixties and set
up his team in Beaverton, Oregon. And that's what my
dad was. That worked for him. And it was weird
(22:00):
way it was a little soprano like without that the
way of sounding. It didn't sound like that. But there
was always a couple of guys standing around with people.
Don't believe me that, So that's that's true.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Oh I believe you.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
What do you think is the most significant milestone to
date in your career?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Right after that, when you said that, I thought, I
went on the tour right before or after I think
it was before the pandemic with Bramlin Jack Elliott and
spent like two weeks on the.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
Bus with him, and I felt like that confirmed a lot.
I mean, I felt like I learned a lot. I
felt like I confirmed a lot about what we're doing.
And he was always like, would always put me to bed.
He was always ready to go the bus and could
do something. He's ninety two and so he was really.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Into traveling, and so we would go find cars and
buses and boats and things to look at during the day.
It's just really active and just seeing somebody who jumped
in head first to this lifestyle being so still so
glad that he did, still so free, still so amused
(23:10):
and interested, and it made me think that, like there's
a fourth quarter, there's a little bit left, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Tell me what the Towns van Zant has meant to you.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
When I met The first time I saw him was
some Keith Sykes took me to a Christmas party at
a bar. There was a whole Holden family and I
didn't know what that meant. And when we went into
the back too, we went into the kitchen, and when
we walked in the back kitchen at his bars, Guy
Clark in town Van Aunt, John Prime and Nancy Griffith,
(23:45):
and they're playing the game where you throw dice on
the wall and they had money in their hands and
they're shouting, you know, and I never met I only
knew jump. And then at a certain point, guys, I
mean Towns came and sat down next to me and
grabbed my arm and I could tell he was starting
to cry. And he said, I said, what's the matter,
(24:07):
And he said, this is all fucked up? And I said,
what's all fucked up? And then they all brow it
in laughter it and he was like, this is all
I never knew what I meant, you know that, but
it hurt me for him. And then after they all
went to Jones and traded songs. I was the only
other person there. I just got up a record thing,
but they didn't. I didn't play any songs. And then
(24:30):
after that guy in Town's were really nice to me.
They call me Keith or Psikes as a kid, and
the only take you in. Now I get it, and
you know you have to. And I was the first
person to tell me that, like the people that came
after me were going to make me jealous, and if
only for being younger. And you just can't you can't
(24:51):
be that, you can't do that. You have to go
the other way. You have to give everything you have
to everybody that's doing this, and it works. It really is.
It's not a lot of people that just want to
be a troubadour, not very many at all. And those
guys really looked up that were just good to each other,
they weren't rights.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Don't you think there's people who pose as troubadours and
then there's people who really are troubadours.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Probably so you could sniff them. I bet you could
sniff them a mile away.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Though usually I sometimes I feel like I can. First
time I met Isabelle and the first time I saw
Sierra Farrell, I knew, and yeah, there is a it's
a calling or something. It definitely doesn't feel like a
thing that you can plan. I didn't. I didn't have
(25:46):
a goal, you know, And then I was living like
this first and then it was like, look at these guys.
They lived the same way, but they have a guitar.
Seems like they get an extra extra stupid everything.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
What's the biggest challenge in your career that you've faced,
or that you've faced to this day.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Right now, I feel like in the last couple of years,
I haven't I'm played because of my be to call
like a it sounds darker than this. They call it
a dark knight of the soul where you where. I'm
like not sure how much I'm going to be able
to play again. I haven't played in a couple of
almost a couple of years, and I'm trying to get healthy.
(26:33):
You know, I'm not not off drugs. I'm not on drugs.
If if almost on drugs, I could go play. But
I can't live like that. And it's gotten I'm in
a lot of thing all the time, not to dig though.
And I said, I'm going to the chiropractor after this,
and there's this guy that is I think it's starting
to help me. I want to play game, but that
(26:56):
so that part of it, like trying to figure out
be if I wasn't that I'm not so far come
up with nothing.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
And then I think meeting heroes and not because of them,
not because oh, because they turned out to be jerks,
just it's intimidating. It's like being around like it was
intimidating to be around John Jimmy Buffet of those people,
but Buffet in particular was somebody like I really wanted
(27:26):
to be a friend to him, and he needed friends,
but they you'd have to be a genius.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
You were going to have to be one of those
guys Steve Jobs and those were his friends, people that
were running on them. I mean, I've been around that.
I mean, now I'm bad about him, but that I
knew a lot of languages for Star Wars. He was
a master surfer, master fisherman, master of pilot. You're not
like the rest. I wasn't like people that was. He
(27:54):
was hard, like not hard to be around, but you
felt like, you know, it's such. I wasn't slapping on
the back and telling them jokes. I was just like, damn,
you want to fly now? Okay?
Speaker 1 (28:07):
And he kept, you know, having this zest for his
performance and connecting with his fans and you know, kind
of keeping that fire always burning, right.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
I think of him as the best troubador that. Yeah.
And he learned it from Jared Jeff, who learned it
from Rongland Jet. And Jared Jeff took him to Q
West and he was to say he could parallel park
a pirate ship and I'm not I'm not kidding, he
can tas say it. So he went down there and
(28:38):
found more of than music. Yeah, he found the way
lock he created Jimmy Buffett understand there and then got
to be.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
And the whole time miss him dearly. I'm sure crazy.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I'm still really close to his knees. And that has
been a really hard one because he is like there
was a like for me, particularly like he just said
you can be a singer now wouldn't be talking to
you because he decided one day to let me. Thanks
doing that twenty times a year ever since the song
(29:12):
came out, just like you can do this, you can always?
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Are you happy how you have evolved as a musician
and a troubadour.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Thank you for asking me that. I'm really happy with
the guitar playing and the harmon playing. That makes me.
I feel like I've really come a long way on
those things. And then Troubadour and I feel like I
got through a no hitter and then I've been't like
that took my first like this is the first break
(29:41):
I've ever taken a I went I ran away at fifteen,
went on the road at about twenty seven and never stopped.
And I feel I know that Ramblin Jack is proud
of the that lifestyle there's a camp where I'm I'm
teached like that Teachi, which is a grip in itself.
(30:04):
But there's a camp in which stock were. Last year
I did it. It was supposed to be a songwriting camp,
and this year it's a freewheel and tribute or camp.
And I'm like, there's way more to it than just
making up songs. You got to learn to sleep anywhere,
or you got to learn how to jump in the
car just because the doors open. All that shit. I
(30:25):
love that.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
I want to ask you about some of your favorite
venues and then some of your least favorite venues right right.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
That is fun. Let's see I can do that. Let's
say Green Hall because I saw Jerry Jeff there and
I was like, this is what I am. And then
there's a place.
Speaker 7 (30:46):
Called Alice's Champagne Palace in Homer, Alaska that it is
like that town if somebody was looking for a travel tip.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
That's the kind of town you can go and meet
everyone there and become you know everyone there come back.
It's not like that community and I feel like I'm
part of it. And then Santa Cruz they used to
have these fat fries outside and that town too. The
radio station in that town. There's a community around that
it's fun to go fall into just see what they're
(31:19):
doing tonight and then say I was I going to say, Oh,
the last one would be Key West because I first
time I went down there was a Jimmy So I've
got that place dialed in pretty good. And it is
the tubadour. In the nineties, when I went down there,
there was like music on all the streets up and
(31:40):
down New Ball. But now if you go up and
down the Ball, it's one guy telling stories and singing
his own songs and people are paying attention to It's
like there's a buffet, there's somebody doing my shit. There's
twelve gigs to do what I do every night on
one street. So if you're into that too, if you're
(32:02):
in the like Boatcraft and Nate and songwriting types, there's
a ship coming qus and they're working at lots of gigs,
and so I'm going down there for a while and
I know those guys.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Do you have any hobbies other than being a troubadour
and a musician.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I'm a good gardener, our gardener, and I'm a walker,
Like I think this that I walk a few times
a day and a garden meditate, like to meditate, which
is mean to just sit there. That's about it. That's
my things.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
I think, what advice would you give to aspiring musicians
that are listening to this podcast?
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I will go in through it if you're see some
people go into it to succeed and other people go
into it to escape the part of the world that
is focused on success. You can go trying to be
a star, or you can be Vince Herman, which is
(33:07):
like he's just like I've kind of been allowed to
I don't know if you known. I'm talking about his
leftover salmon and he's a s bonifide. What do you
call when people figure out there you go and shake it.
He used his time onous to do that and got
away with it by playing mandolin and singing, not making
(33:28):
big buss, you know. So it's like I went into
it because I felt like I had already was the
big say tune in, drop out it. So it's like,
if you if you want to have kids or be
responsible or be don't do it. Don't try to. You're
not going to succeed in a way that you're going
to send you a kid to private school or whatever.
(33:51):
And if you do like em, when Jack said, music
is good for like a horse or a truck, and
the rest is grab ass. And if you know that
you might end up with your own ranch accident, you
might end up like Jimmy Buffade. But if you think
you're gonna end up like Jimmy Buffet, you're just gonna
be it drunk. You gotta like when I started being
(34:16):
a singers because I knew that I was never going
to have any money. I was never going to do
anything like that. I was never going to have to
sit down and meet with anyone or anything like that.
That was the payment. And then like psychs was like,
you can go to Europe if you just get your
shit together for six months.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
That's what I told Sierra God in closing, what have
you not learned about life or being a musician that
you're still in.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Search of that thing Vinny did? And I do think
I'm getting closer. I would like to run out of
things to say and shake my personality completely, even know
it's pretty warming, like he and then I've got alan
want too. In the last few years of so like
I didn't really talk anymore and he only really just
(35:11):
laughed and made funny sounds and stuff. And I could
see that happen in the bending and I'm trying to
get right in line behind me. I would like that.
I would like to go be like, go completely mad.
I guess is what someone might say, Oh, just get
rid of shake my name, you know, get back to
(35:33):
before you take on them.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I think, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
It sounds some Hippi ship, but music. I think someday
they're going to figure out frequencies and like the in
like music is like a magic thing. I think can
do that. I may be talking about, you know how
some people like will just take a drug over and
over because they're certain at any day now it's gonna
they're going to not need it anymore because it's they
(35:58):
saw it, you know. I guess I'm keep hoping to
get it whatever it is, you know, whatever it is,
to get with it.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I want to get with it. Thanks for getting with
it with me, man, Thank you, man. I so enjoyed this.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Thank you Man, I did too.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Thanks for being on right on man, I can't wait here. Yeah,
I'll keep you posted. Thanks for everything, seriously. Thanks good
luck at the doc too. Thanks for listening. To this
Taking a Walk episode with Todd Snyder. A quick shout
out thanks to one of our Ohio friends and supporters
of Taking a Walk, Buck McK williams. Thanks for supporting
(36:39):
Taking a Walk. Buck. Taking a Walk is available on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Lynn Hoffman
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