This is just an excerpt from a much longer article. But I like what he says and how he says it (love his music, too, if you’ve read here very long you probably know that)
One of the brightest and best voices of the Americana music scene is Todd Snider, a sharp-witted singer-songwriter who wears quite a few of his core beliefs on his sleeve: a commitment to progressive causes, a deep mistrust of materialism and greed, a sympathy for the downtrodden and a relentless Christian faith that leaves him bewildered at the way people of his own faith are acting in America.
Snider told Chris Willman in Willman’s excellent book Rednecks & Bluenecks:
I’m a Christian, but I must’ve got a defective Bible or something. Mine didn’t tell me to change anybody, or tell me to hunt and destroy all sin. Mine said forgiveness was the most important thing there was and pride was the worst. Mine said if someone takes your shirt, give them your coat. Mine said it was easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle on a camel’s back that it is for him to enter the gates of heaven. Passing through the eye of a needle on a camel’s back is the American dream.
As his career progresses, Snider has mined this concept for some great music. His best songs confront the confusion of being a progressive Christian in America, where your president says Jesus is his favorite philosopher as he favors the wealthiest in his economic policies and embraces a doctrine of pre-emptive war.
Found here.
The full article is below the fold, or click here.
