Raise your hand if you know how much I love and appreciate Todd Snider's music. Did you know that I was at his show last week in Lincoln, NE and sat in my seat and got teary eyed from the realization that I was in the same room with Todd Snider listening to him sing songs live and in person that I have heard so many times while driving in my car? Did you know that I also cried like that when I heard Darrell Scott for the first time and Richard Shindell for the first time and that time I saw Patty Griffin I was overwhelmed as well?
Resolved: I'm a fan of Todd Snider.
This is how my 12 year old son describes it: "Mom, you are a lower level artist. Tom Snider is an upper circle artist." (that's how he said it so I didn't change it)
If there were a songwriting corporation where all the songwriters worked (it would go out of business), but I would be working in the mailroom and Todd Snider would be up on the third floor where people can sit on couches and stuff.
I wrote him a note, I sent him a song. He wrote back. He listened to the song and now I can drop the mic.
Mic drop.
And you know what you're gonna love, you guys? You're gonna love being reminded of how we all need each other. The intern in the mailroom has something to share with the executive on the third floor even if it's only to help the fat cat see the joy in a leather couch that he had taken for granted.
I have dreams of getting up to the third floor, but really, there's something free and easy about working in the mailroom. I get the joy of sitting out on the loading dock to work on a song and it doesn't have a price tag attached to it, I don't have any manager telling me I should write this kinda song or that kinda song because it'll sell. I don't have anyone telling me anything.
The Nebraska wind blows, my kids play outside, I work on a song and fall in love with new work and then I put my apron on and I go to work and there's something real easy about that. Sometimes the Nebraska wind blows and it seems like it carries all the sound with it like I never sang a note and those are the days I desperately wish someone could hear me.
And sometimes someone does hear me. Sometimes surprises come up. The surprises are out there, so we should all get out there and keep our eyes open. Peace.