Todd Snider’s Upcoming Posthumous Release Looks to Country’s Future
There are many questions that still linger after the passing of songwriting legend Todd Snider on November 14th, 2025. The circumstances leading up to his death remain void of some critical details, and the answers of whether key moments when perhaps Snider could have been helped and survived remain outstanding. It also feels imperative that we continue to ask those questions, if for no other reason than if or when similar circumstance befall another beloved musician, the same mistakes aren’t repeated.
But in the interim, there is cause for positivity. Todd Snider happened to leave behind a posthumous album recorded in the period right before his death in the fall of 2025. Called My Second Rodeo, it’s said to be an imagining of “the sound of country music 10 years from now” from Snider. The album will be released from Thirty Tigers on October 9th. The lead single “Solid Country Gold” is out now (listen below).
The songs came together as Snider worked dismantle and reconstruct his favorite country music tropes, and then weave them into swampy grooves, backed by New Orleans-style horns. This is not a posthumous release of B-sides and outtakes. Snider approached this album intentionally, and in what collaborators say was a burst of creative energy coming out of his previous album High, Lonesome and Then Some release right before his death. “I finished eleven songs in October of twenty twenty five. Save this,” is what Snider wrote in an email to producer, engineer and longtime friend Joe Bisirri.
“This album is a glimpse into the creative outpouring from Todd in September and October of 2025,” says Joe Bisirri. “He was so sure of this sound, feel, and his studio band’s pliability that he insisted on recording his vocal and guitar first, with no accompaniment or click track. Todd wanted the band to record after him, so they would HAVE to follow his lead wherever it went.”
Joe Bisiri, Robbie Crowell, and Todd Snider are all credited as producers on the album. Bisiri and Crowell worked off of notes that Snider left via emails and voice memos to finish the album at Snider’s Purple Building in Nashville. “He heard this album get to the 70 percent mark,” Bisirri says. “The last 30 percent took so much longer, because we were trying to follow his road map, all the while questioning and requestioning. Ultimately, Todd showed us where to go.”
In emails, Todd Snider told them, “….i honestly think we’re doing something important that is going to affect this town for a longtime,” and “ive never been more excited about art i was working on.”
The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco has also announced that they will be paying tribute to Snider in a Todd Snider Rules! show featuring Aaron Lee Tasjan, John Craigie, Elizabeth Cook, Chuck Prophet, Steve Poltz, and others during the October event.
My Second Rodeo is now available for pre-order via Bandcamp.
TRACK LIST:
1. Freewheelin’ (Every Day at a Time)
2. Solid Country Gold
3. (I Got That) Deja Vu
4. Con Your Monkey Do The Splits
5. Stoner Yodel Number 3 (Give Me a D for Gym Class)
6. The Manifesto
7. One Nation Under Fire
8. My Second Rodeo
9. Sunday Go Meeting Looking
10. The Moon Tonight
September 15, 2026 @ 6:49 pm
Sounds like Ween.
September 15, 2026 @ 7:42 pm
This is a bad thing?
September 15, 2026 @ 7:13 pm
Well based on that sample song, it’s gonna suck.
Or a solid 7.8 trig rating
September 15, 2026 @ 7:42 pm
But I only give 8s 😀
September 15, 2026 @ 9:18 pm
I never got too into Todd but I’m currently exploring q bunch of the important/influential singer songwriters so I should go down the discography a bit.
Anyone have recommendations for specific albums or eras or songs to check out ?
September 15, 2026 @ 10:28 pm
For me his third album, happy to be here, is where he really caught his stride. It is the first record he put out on John Prine’s oh boy label. Then the next three studio records (also had a live one in there) ending with what I believe to be his magnum opus, the devil you know. He had several really good albums after that as well, but for me those were the four. Among my least favorite are probably his first three albums, that is by no means a universal opinion though, in fact it may be a minority one. “Like old times “ is probably my favorite song. The devil you know, long year, rose city, db cooper, age like wine, happy new year, mission accomplished, east Nashville skyline, blues on the banjo, talkin reality television blues, in the beginning… and a lot more are other songs I enjoy. If you tell me which of those songs you like, or which songs in general, my other people you like, or what you enjoy doing, not related to listening to music, I’d be more than happy to recommend some more songs.. To get the full experience I’d listen to his 2011 live album, Todd snider the storyteller.
If you got the time listen to his song, beer run, then listen to the Garth Brooks George Jones version of beer run for as long as it takes for you to get the point of that song, then YouTube “if tomorrow never comes with story by Todd Snider” that YouTube video and story is what made me fall in love with Todd Snider 20 years ago I suppose.
As of today, there’s a second song from his new album posted on Spotify if anyone is curious.
Also on Spotify and YouTube are the purple versions of each of his albums, where he recorded each album with just him and his guitar talking and telling stories about the songs. He did this during Covid.
September 16, 2026 @ 5:39 am
New Connection and East Nashville Skyline were the two albums sandwiched between Happy to be Here and The Devil You know. Those albums make up my favorite four I think, or at least represent his best run.
September 16, 2026 @ 8:56 pm
New Connection is a beautiful album that we never talk about
September 17, 2026 @ 10:52 am
I talk about it all the time :). naw you’re right, very underrated.
September 16, 2026 @ 5:59 am
Play a train song loud, and on repeat
September 16, 2026 @ 7:43 am
Pretty much what Thedevilyouknow said. For a beginner listen to Live: Return of the Storyteller. That’s a pretty good sampling of the albums up to that point. You’ll probably want to dive in after that and love all of it like some of us.
September 16, 2026 @ 9:04 am
I love Todd’s humor, especially in songs like “Tillamook County Jail” and “Conservative Christian, Right-Wing Republican,” both from the East Nashville Skyline album
September 15, 2026 @ 9:35 pm
Am guessing it’ll get an 8.2 rating here.
RIP. But the dude was a fucking train wreck.
September 16, 2026 @ 12:06 am
The way Snider rushed through to complete this new album right after releasing “High, Lonesome and Then Some” makes it sound likd he had some sort of premonition that his time was short.
But on the other hand, it also seems likethe frantic work schedule may be what brought on the mental/emotional breakdown that precipitated his demise. Sad and tragic, if so. What was the rush for?
September 16, 2026 @ 7:46 am
To me it makes his death even more tragic. I know he was planning to wind down his touring, but the fact that he had ideas and was recording new music makes it seem like he had no idea things would turn bad so quickly.
September 16, 2026 @ 8:28 am
Yeah, for the record, I’m not seeing anyone involved with this project characterizing it as “rushed.” In fact, what they said is it took a long time to complete because they had to put the final 30% of it together hoping to meet Todd Snider’s wishes instead of knowing what he wanted.
Similar to David, I take the fact that this album exists as an indication that Todd Snider wanted to live. I’ve seen numerous people say that he was ready to die, and that’s why what happened, happened. This album would be contrary to that.
September 16, 2026 @ 1:19 am
I was hoping more would come out about the circumstances surrounding his death. Some things sounded suspicious.
September 16, 2026 @ 9:00 am
Sounds good to me. Lo fi, loose, funky — I wish this is what country music would sound like in 10 years, but I doubt it!
September 16, 2026 @ 4:54 pm
“…it’s said to be an imagining of “the sound of country music 10 years from now…”
So it’s created fully using AI: the songwriting, the music, the vocals? Because that’s where music will be ten years from now (hell, that’s where it will be in less than 2 years).
RIP Todd
September 18, 2026 @ 3:44 pm
Second single was great, but he sounds in pain. May be a tough album to get through without tears.