I was first introduced to Todd Snider in 1996, right after Step Right Up came out. I was perusing the CD selection at the base exchange on Langley AFB and figured I'd give it a shot. Side Show Blues was the first song that really spoke to me.
It's hard to break the door down wearin' seven dollar shoes
A perfect line if there ever was one. I kept up with him, buying the CDs when they came out, and I loved them all. I do believe The Excitement Plan is my favorite. A lot of people will tell you East Nashville Skyline is his best, and it's great, but for me, his version of Robert Earl Keen's Corpus Christi Bay will always break my heart in a special way, and "his sinker looked like it was fallin' off a table and nobody was hallucinating that" from America's Favorite Pastime never fails to get a grin.
My mother died in 2009 and her death happened as my marriage was on the verge of falling apart. For a good month, I'd do twice daily drives to the hospice house and I kept Play a Train Song on repeat. It became the soundtrack of the worst part of my life, and I won't lie, it's kinda hard to listen to now. But it's playing as I write this, on repeat, reminding me that pain and loss are the same thing as joy. They hurt the same way, just differently colored, and they're the price we pay for being human. While I never met him, I like to believe Todd knew that. He was certainly very good at reminding the rest of us.