The excellent folk-rock troubadour Todd Snider has died. Yesterday it was reported that he was suffering from walking pneumonia and today his social media accounts announced that he has "departed this world." He was 59.

Recent headlines showed a string of troubles: Snider was assaulted outside of his hotel, canceled his tour, and got arrested himself after an altercation at a hospital.

But he was a gifted and accomplished songwriter and raconteur whose most recent live album Live: The Return of the Storyteller was awarded a full A grade from "Dean of American Rock Critics" Robert Christgau in 2022, his third live album to make the critic's A-list. You don't get three different acclaimed live albums unless you're really something onstage, and true to Snider's nickname, he had stories for miles.

His studio albums are pretty accomplished, too, especially 2004's East Nashville Skyline, with barnburners like "Tillamook County Jail" and "Conservative Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males", and 2006's The Devil You Know.

In true folksinger tradition, Snider never shied away from skewering corruptions of the moment like the self-explanatory "New York Banker" during the height of Occupy Wall Street, or the first-person "You Got Away With It (A Tale of Two Frat Brothers)," where he sings from the perspective of George W. Bush in his drunker days. He was also a member of the supergroup Hard Working Americans, alongside members of jam band stalwarts Widespread Panic. This year he released his most recent album, High, Lonesome, and Then Some, which was also awarded an A- from Christgau just three days ago.

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