Unless you follow Todd Snider’s Facebook page, you would not have heard about this one. Although I don’t, a message from a Todd-devotee friend of mine in Arizona got the word to me. Here is the alert that Todd made only 24 hours before show time about his unusual free East Nashville afternoon performance.

My afternoon plans did not get me to Beyond the Edge, an East Nashville sports bar, until about 5:30: a good hour and a half after the scheduled 4pm start. After scoring a lucky parking spot in the busy Five Points district, I braved the cold Nashville weather with a brisk walk from my car to the bar not having the slightest idea what to expect.

Walking to the back bar room, I encountered the usual controlled pandemonium that I have seen at my past Snider shows—a wild boisterous crowd worshiping their hero. Todd was wrapping up his second of three hour-long sets with a slug of John Prine songs. The room was comfortably crowded (about 50 folks) and quite noisy. Conversations were not kept to a minimum, and sharing the marvel of the experience as it happened seemed to be a priority for most.

With just a few tables and chairs in the small room, some sat on the floor while most stood. I chose to be a bit mobile, moving every so often to avoid a distracting conversation. But none of this really got in the way of an enjoyably pleasant hootenanny of an afternoon. With Snider leading his faithful in sing-a-longs of his songs and interesting covers, all we were missing was the bonfire!

I am forever amazed at the serious Todd Snider fan. They all seem to know every word to every song of his. There also seemed to be some fans who had journeyed from out-of-town and several who had a fan-based personal connection with our host.

Why he chose to do this was cryptically discussed in the Facebook post, but why he picked his neighborhood sports bar may forever remain a mystery. Chalk this up as one of those “only-in-Nashville” events, and I’ll let the set list below speak for itself. (Note though the special guest duet with Tanya Tucker’s daughter on her Mom’s hit!)

I sure had a blast and love Todd’s witty banter as much as his music. And I even got to meet the man afterwards. He did act a little sheepish with me. I’m not sure if it was because he thought I was a Conservative Christian Right Wing Republican or a record industry weasel who needed to get back to Franklin!

SETLIST:
Second Set (partial)

1. Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother (Ray Wylie Hubbard cover)
2. Daddy’s Little Pumpkin (John Prine cover)
3. Angel from Montgomery (John Prine cover)
4. Christmas in Prison (John Prine cover)
5. Good Hearted Woman (Waylon Jennings cover)
6. East Nashville Skyline

Third Set

1. Bad Bad Leroy Brown (Jim Croce cover)
2. Delta Dawn (Tanya Tucker cover) (with Presley Tucker)
3. Don’t It Make You Want to Dance (Rusty Wier cover)
4. Conservative Christian, Right Wing, Republican, Straight, White, American Males
5. Alright Guy
6. 37206 (Elmo Buzz)
7. Hey Pretty Boy (Go Back to Franklin) (Elmo Buzz)
8. Runaround Sue (Dion cover)
9. Can’t Complain
10. Stuck on the Corner
11. Stomp and Holler (Hard Working Americans)
12. Hard Working Americans Theme Song
13. 45 Miles
14. She Talks to Angels (Black Crowes cover)
15. Freebird (Lynyrd Skynryd cover)
16. Me and Bobby McGee (Kris Kristofferson cover)
17. Honky Tonk Music (Jerry Jeff Walker cover) / Stories We Could Tell (Jimmy Buffett cover)

BAND:
Todd Snider—lead vocals and acoustic guitar