Todd Snider - Club Congress - February 1, 2012

Last night we went to the Club Congress in downtown Tucson to see Todd Snider. We checked out this great music venue the last time we were in Tucson a couple of years ago. It's an interesting place that fills the first floor of an historic old hotel, there's a small barroom, an outside cafe, and the music room, which also has a bar. There's even a coffee bar for folks more interested in caffeine and desserts. Todd Snider has attracted an increased amount of my attention over the last few years, this was my first opportunity to see him perform, save for a brief appearance on the small stage at All Good about three or four years ago. He calls his music "stoner folkie" but I say that he's more like a modern day John Prine. There's also an element to his style that is reminiscent of the "talking blues" made popular by Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. Most of his songs are stories, some quite funny, some very touching, many are both. He does mostly all originals but there were a few covers last night. I particularly like "Alcohol and Pills", "Beer Run -> Age like Wine", and one called "Kids" from his new album to be released in a couple of weeks. His roadie opened the encore with a killer Elvis impersonation ("Don't Be Cruel"). This was our first live music adventure since establishing our winter base camp in Tucson and Todd Snider was a great way to kick things off. For my friends back on the east coast, Todd will be playing at the Rams Head in Annapolis and the Jefferson Theater next week, I strongly recommend that you check him out.