A singer-songwriter with the persona of a fried folkie can be expected to work at a poky pace, as is the case of . His 鈥淐rank It, We鈥檙e Doomed鈥� album has been a long time coming, despite the urgency of its title.
Snider recorded the 15-song album in 2007 before shelving it. Much of the material subsequently surfaced elsewhere and will be familiar to fans when 鈥淒oomed鈥� is finally released Friday.
Even so, it ranks among Snider鈥檚 strongest collections. Four songs have never been released before, including the bluesy stomper 鈥淛uice鈥� and 鈥淲hat Made You Do It,鈥� a marvel of cool jazz that evokes singing to Billy Joe Shaver.
Other highlights include a brief star turn by Kris Kristofferson on 鈥淕ood Fortune鈥� and Snider鈥檚 duet with Loretta Lynn on 鈥淒on鈥檛 Tempt Me,鈥� which they co-wrote. 鈥淎nyone can see you鈥檙e stoned as a rock,鈥� she sings.
These garage-folk versions of tunes, available elsewhere, are often significantly different. 鈥淢ercer鈥檚 Folly鈥� combines the words for one later song with the music for another. A cover of 鈥檚 鈥淲est Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown鈥� is stripped down to two acoustic guitars, while fiddle and organ underpin 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Favorite Pastime,鈥� a great song written about performance-enhancing drugs.
Snider strings together non sequiturs that seem seamless as he contemplates love and greed, war and peace, the cycle of life and what matters most.
Whether he鈥檚 singing a song that鈥檚 old or new, Snider always sounds like a busker on the corner of sanity and madness.
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AP music reviews:
Steven Wine, The Associated Press
