RIP Tom Snider, the "Alright Guy" who left us "High, Lonesome and Thensome."

Sadly, singer songwriter Todd Snider has died at age 59 following an incident in Utah where he was assaulted and then arrested for a creating a disturbance when the hospital where he was being treated insisted on releasing him. 

Snider titled his last album and tour "High, Lonesome and Thensome." In the video for the title track (my new favorite song), he enjoys a sesh before the session. The tour was cancelled on November 3 following his attack. 

Snider was known to fans of John "Illegal Smile" Prine, for whom he often opened. The two had similar song-writing styles: simple and straight to the point, yet beautifully poetic and universal. And always amusing, if not downright hilarious. NPR reports he modeled himself on — and at times met and was mentored by — artists like Prine, Kris Kristofferson and Guy Clark. Jimmy Buffett was a fan who produced his first two albums. 

Looking online for Snider's hit "Alright Guy," I could only find a video version with the word "dope" censored from the line, "Now maybe that I'm dirty, and maybe I smoke a little dope / It ain't like I'm going on TV and tearing up pictures of the pope [a reference to Sinead O'Connor calling out the Catholic church's child-abusive ways long before anyone else did]." 

According to CelebStoner, in 2014 Snider formed the supergroup Hard Working Americans with Dave Schools, Neal Casal, Chad Staehly and Duane Trucks; in the video for "Blackland Farmer" from their self-titled album, a struggling farmer switches to marijuana. 

UPDATE: Billy Strings played a beautiful "Play a Train Song" in Newark, NJ on the night Todd died: 

I got this old black leather jacket, I got the pack of Marlboro Reds
I got this stash here in my pocket, I got these thoughts in my own head...

Then he told a story about playing at a festival circa 2017 in Gatlinburg, TN for which he wore a jacket with a vintage "Panama Red" patch on it that he left behind backstage. The Hardworking Americans played at the same venue the following night, and a day or two later, "I looked online and I saw a picture of Todd Snider wearing that fuckin' coat.....He was bad ass."

At Farm Aid in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2014, Snider played his song "Conservative Christian, Right Wing, Republican, Straight, White, American Male" (with a great intro/disclaimer about being a folk singer and sharing his opinions with the audience).  

Conservative Christian, right-wing Republican
Straight, white, American males
Gay-bashin', black-fearin', poor-fightin', tree-killin'
Regional leaders of sales
Frat housin', keg-tappin', shirt-tuckin', back-slappin'
Haters of hippies like me
Tree-huggin', peace-lovin', pot-smokin', porn-watchin'
Lazy-ass hippies like me

Introducing the song on his live album The Storyteller with a story he told about his first experience on psychedelic mushrooms while a member of his high school football team; or as he put it, "the touching story of how psychedelic drugs turned me from the scoreboard-watching jock that my dad was hoping for, into the peacefu, pot-smoking, porn-watching,  lazy-ass hippie that stands before you this afternoon at Bonaroo." 

With the Hard Working Americans (notice no hyphen), Snider sings of the Pogonip region of Santa Cruz, CA in "Wrecking Ball""

I was just a little Deadhead...

Then I was a farmer in the pogonip 

Where the weed that I recall 

Was like a wrecking ball

Tripping Balls and Loving John Prine.