Singer and songwriter Todd Snider’s death would have made an intriguing story — by turns horrifying and hilarious — if only Snider was the one telling it.
Pneumonia and sepsis killed the 59-year-old Snider in Nashville on Nov. 14, 2025. Weeks before, Snider alleged that he had been assaulted, then was turned away from a Salt Lake City hospital where police later arrested him, capping a scuttled tour, according to news accounts at the time.
Anyone who saw Snider play live, including multiple dates in the Roanoke and New River valleys, could imagine him finding the pathos and humor in a story like that. After all, the author of such songs as “Conservative Christian, Right Wing, Republican, Straight, White American Males,” “Alright Guy,” “The Ballad of the Kingsmen” and “Play A Train Song” had an equal talent for spinning rambling and rapturous spoken-word tales during live performances.
“One hundred percent,” said Allen Thompson, a Roanoke native and one of dozens of Snider acolytes in East Nashville, Tennessee. “I couldn’t imagine the final chapter of Todd’s story in a way that wasn’t just as surreal and chaotic and hilarious and sad and emotional as his life was.”…