A talented songwriter, Snider stays humble

It's been more than a decade since I was a freshman at Middle Tennessee State University.

But I remember one day in particular as if it were yesterday. Because, musically speaking, it changed my life.

I was up in the office of the school newspaper, "Sidelines," and there was a particular CD on the features editor's desk that created an unyielding curiosity. I can recall looking at a picture of a disheveled, unkempt guy walking with his back to the camera down the middle of a country road.

Having just spent five years in Los Angeles watching people and hanging out on the famous Sunset Strip, I was soul searching for something to move me musically. I guess you could say I was in the middle of a midlife crisis of a musical kind.

I don't know why, but that afternoon I picked up that disc, "Viva Satellite," and unintentionally discovered what I had so desired to hear. I nonchalantly slipped it in my backpack and from that day on, I became consumed with a singer/songwriter named Todd Snider.

As you can imagine, years later, I was taken aback when I walked into my next-door neighbor's East Nashville house and, of all people, Snider was sitting on the couch with a guitar picking a tune made famous by Tom T. Hall.

I sat there on the hardwood floor listening to songs and, more importantly, his stories. For anyone who's ever gone to see Snider live, you know firsthand how important his sense of storytelling is to the overall performance.

That night, I was reminded why it was I wanted to write about music.

And to think, there was more than one time that he flipped his guitar pick on the coffee table and exclaimed, "I got nothing." This from a guy who Kris Kristofferson referred to as "a true songwriter."

One thing I've learned about Snider in the years since that Sunday night in Tennessee is that as great as he might be, he doesn't always realize it. Check that, I'm sure he has a pretty good understanding of how people think of him as an artist. But as a person, he has an unassuming quality about him.

After all, in his own words, he's a "gypsy first and a songwriter second."

This week, the self-proclaimed East Nashville gypsy will be in Charleston for a pair of shows at The Windjammer on the Isle of Palms.

I wish I could be there, but I'll be on my way to Portland, Ore., which ironically happens to be his hometown.

As someone who is moved by music and appreciates wordplay, I believe that Snider is one songsmith worth discovering.

Keith Ryan Cartwright is a Colorado-based freelance entertainment journalist.