Todd Snider: Peace Queer 8/19
By Team JamBase Jul 24, 2008 • 9:09 am PDT
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Fans of rock ‘n’ roll, folk, country and Americana music have long been held in Snider’s sway. His last album, 2006’s The Devil You Know, landed him on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Night With David Letterman, and appeared on numerous year-end Top 10 lists.
The overtly political Peace Queer takes a bit of a left turn for the outspoken Snider, beginning with the cover photo, which depicts Snider being held at gunpoint by a shirtless hippie. “Clearly, anyone who looks at the photograph can tell that I had been abducted by an international league of peace queers and forced to write protest music. You know, for their cause,” says Snider.
The eight tracks on Peace Queer include a Civil War sea shanty, a plaintive cover of the classic “Fortunate Son,” a spoken-word number, a rocket-fueled meditation on contemporary culture (“Stuck On The Corner”), and a Fred Sanford-ish funeral dirge. The emotional centerpiece of the album is the wistful “Ponce Of The Flaming Peace Queer.”
In addition to Snider, Peace Queer features Patty Griffin, Kevn Kinney, Don Heron, Doug Lancio, Will Kimbrough and other luminaries.
“Things happen in this album besides you being told that war is wrong, with a beat,” Snider says. “I don’t know that war is wrong. I just know that I’m a peace queer, and I’m totally into it when people aren’t fighting, in my home, at the bar where I hang out, or in a field a million miles away.”
Listen to “Mission Accomplished” off Peace Queer at www.myspace.com/toddsnider.
Track Listing:
1. Mission Accomplished (because you gotta have faith)
2. The Ballad of Cape Henry
3. Fortunate Son
4. Is This Thing Working?
5. Stuck On The Corner (prelude to a heart attack)
6. Dividing The Estate (a heart attack)
7. Ponce of The Flaming Peace Queer
8. Is This Thing On?
Todd Snider is on tour now, dates available here.
Check out JamBase’s 2006 exclusive feature/interview with Todd Snider here.
