Pop Music Review : Snider Takes Audience for Easy Spin on Country Lane

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — The songs of Todd Snider are all wry storytelling and righteous common sense, with lyrics scattered across the usual folk-rock-country-pop rhythms. It may not be revelatory, but the man sings with such energy and conviction that at least it is clear that he means what he’s singing about.

At the Coach House on Saturday, he spent two hours singing-rasping-shouting about all the laughs and troubles he’s seen. Along the way, the 28-year-old from Atlanta dabbled in some Chuck Berry, told a few stories, wondered aloud about his mostly white audience, sang “Happy Birthday” to a fan and urged the crowd to dance on the tables, much to the alarm of club security.

“I had a feeling when we pulled that big bus in, we were going to have some fun tonight,” he said, and for the most part he was right. He was a loose and amiable presence in his sweaty Black Flag T-shirt and faded jeans, and less smug than he sometimes seems on his “Songs for the Daily Planet” album, released last fall by Margaritaville/MCA.

Backed by his rock-solid trio, the Nervous Wrecks, Snider spent most of his time playing country-fried heartland rock, songs like “Alright Guy,” which has been getting some airplay on Adult Album Alternative radio:

I know I smoke a lot of dope

but it ain’t like I’m going on TV

and tearing up pictures of the Pope.

But his model is less Springsteen than it is modern country masters Jerry Jeff Walker, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Steve Earle.

That came through strongest when his band stepped back for a few minutes as Snider strummed alone on acoustic guitar and played his harmonica. With “You Think You Know Somebody,” he examined child abuse by singing of a boyhood friend who one day “goes too far” and kills his own son.

By contrast, the faux-Dylan of “Talkin’ Seattle Grunge Rock Blues” makes a joke of the alternative rock scene, telling the story of a grunge act that finds fame by not playing a single note. The song is good for a laugh but makes fun without much true insight.

In the song, a record company scout seeks out the band:

Like always, we refused to play.

It knocked him out. He said he loved our work.

The song (an unlisted final track on the “Daily Planet” album) actually has seen some chart action, too often overshadowing Snider’s more heartfelt material.

Soon enough, the Nervous Wrecks re-emerged for some charged country-rock. Throughout the show, Snider repeatedly introduced and reintroduced the members of his band, as if in honest gratitude for their services. Indeed, the night’s Most Valuable Player was guitarist Will Kimbrough (formerly of Will and the Bushmen) who fired up Snider’s music with a fine Duane Allman-Dickie Betts impression.