A Conversation with Todd Snider (continued)

PM: What about Eric McConnell, where you make records, I don't know him. Where did you guys begin your friendship?

TS: I have a song called "Play a Train Song."

PM: Oh, and I loved Skip, too. [Skip was a friend to many who played at the Radio Cafe on the east side. He was often heard to holler "Play a train song!" from the back of the room.]

TS: Oh, yeah. Okay. So Skip and Eric--I don't know exactly how they knew each other, but when I first got to East Nashville, I found out pretty quick that Skip was like the mayor, and he knew everyone. I was like the Robin to his Batman there for about four years. I was getting ready to make a record called New Connection at the time. And I needed to try to record some songs to give to John Prine.

PM: Right.

TS: I just had to turn them in to see if I could make my record--you know, like, "I have these twelve songs, should I go make a record?" That's kind of how it starts, right? And so Prine said he knew a guy. And I went over to Eric's. And Eric let me do it for free because of Skip.

PM: Wow.

TS: We met that day, and we kept running into each other in the bars after that. We were bumping heads, and everything, and that was kind of a connection. And then when I'd walk in the mornings, I would walk by his house.

When I was getting ready to make that East Nashville Skyline record with "Play A Train Song," I went down to Memphis with a friend--and I won't say who because it's not--I was going to have a friend of mine produce me, and I started playing that song, and I couldn't get it the way I wanted it to sound. It kept sounding like Hank Jr. or something. And I was like, "I want it to sound like"--in my mind what I kept saying was, "I want it to sound like something that would have been on Ragged Glory by Neil Young, but kind of a lighter--like less, just a smidge less--more suited to a folk record. And the guy said to me, "Man, you can't do that. This song is not going to sound like that." And I thought, "Well, that's a crazy thing to say to somebody." I thought it was condescending, too.

PM: That is a crazy thing to say.

TS: So I went up to Eric's and I said--and I told him what I had, and I was just sitting on his porch. And to be honest, I think I went over there to see--we were going to smoke a joint and see what was going on. Right?

PM: Yeah.

TS: And I told him, I said, "Man, this guy is not--I mean, isn't that insane?" And he's like, "That's crazy." He's like, "Come inside. Play me the song." And I said, "Okay." And I went into his house, and I took his guitar, and he sat on the drum kit. And he put a mic on the drum, and he put a mic on me--and I was playing electric guitar. And we just played it through. And right away, the beat was what I was talking about. And then he grabbed the bass, and he played a bass line that sounded more like something off Ragged Glory. And I said, "I knew that I wasn't crazy, man."

Then that night--it was started in the afternoon, by the time we were done it was dark. I said, "Let's call Will so that the guitar part will be in time." Because now by this point we'd done everything--tambourines, harmonica, everything, we were ready. And I called Will, and I said, "Man, come over." And we started to record. When he got there, I said, "You know, let's just make the record, let's do it."

PM: Wow.

TS: And so it was like, "Okay, we'll come back tomorrow." And I said, "You guys will be the producers, and I'll do it." Will had always sort of been our producer anyway, it's just we weren't old enough to ask for credit for it.

And so then we called Dave Jacques. And the next day we just started cutting all the East Nashville songs. I think I maybe was finishing some of them, too, as we were working.

PM: Again, that's a totally organic series of events. It's an excellent story--you know, having nothing to do with the powers that be, or this guy told that guy, and this producer--nothing like that! It just comes right out of your life.

TS: Oh, well, thank you, man. That makes me feel good.

I guess before that I'd never been the person who told everybody they were going to get paid, I just always showed up--at that time I didn't even have a manager or nothing. And we didn't tell nobody we were making a record. We made it, finished it, mixed it. And I don't even think that they knew I had any songs--I don't think Al or John [Al Bunetta and John Prine of Oh Boy Records] knew I had songs. I had just been working on them. Of course, everybody else was just hoping that I'd get my shit back together so I could work.

PM: Right. So the label on this last record is New Door. Does that mean that the Oh Boy days are behind you, or is that the--

TS: Oh, I hope not. I know that Oh Boy is putting out an album in like a month or two that's just all kinds of outtakes and stuff that--because there's a loft of extra crap down there. Well, some of it is crap, if you ask me. But this first one that's coming out, I think it says Volume One. The first one that's coming out, I like. And then, I'll be honest, with each release I think they start to get shittier and shittier, and I have a feeling that eventually it'll be like Volume Six, for a dollar.

[laughter]

TS: It's just awful. But the first one is good. And I still see John. And that was mostly my connection.

PM: John which?

TS: John Prine. I guess it's been a few months since I saw him. I opened for him not long ago somewhere. So I mean, I still love them. Then they know--the guy that I'm with now is a guy named Bob Mercer who was the guy at Margaritaville. So they all know each other. That was where I started--after the East Nashville record, technically, I could do whatever I wanted to, and obviously didn't give a damn.

PM: Right.

TS: And then the greatest hits thing--I got called--they said MCA--a bunch of people were trying to get me to make a new album--like not too many people, but a few.

PM: Yeah.

TS: And then MCA--or whatever they're called now--they said--well, Bob just called me at home and said, "Hey, they're going to do a best-of album..." And we just have always been friends, he was in my wedding. The man that ran Oh Boy and the man that runs Margaritaville were at my wedding. And he said, "I just heard they're going to do this, and if you want me to, if you care, I can get you in charge of the whole thing." And I said, "Well, call Vickie Lucero, she handles things for me." I didn't expect--there weren't big people like that that were calling us good people. And then he came in and I guess essentially just like made me an offer I couldn't refuse. He got me a better thing than I deserved just because he was my friend. That's the way I always thought. And it's only I'd do this and then another one, and then I don't know what I'll do after that. I mean, I wonder how many songs can a guy make up?

PM: [laughs]

TS: But I do have maybe a bit of another album in me. And I know I'm supposed to make it for these guys. And then after that I don't know what I'll do.     continue

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