After the kids were safely bedded down last night, John, Grant and I went down to Cheatham Street Warehouse for Kent Finlay’s Songwriter’s Circle. The Circle is an every-Wednesday affair where anyone who wants to can get up and do an original song or two. It’s always an interesting affair, as the participants range from kids up from College Station who haven’t yet mastered the skill of tuning their guitars to professional singer/songwriters whose performances could bring a tear to anyone’s eye.

Last night was especially enjoyable for two reasons. The first was getting to watch Emily, the quiet, friendly bartender chase out a bunch of bikers because they were being noisy and making it hard for other people to pay attention to the music. The second was Todd Snider.

I’d never heard of Todd before, but he worked the crowd with a Nirvana-meets-Arlo-Guthrie slacker storytelling charisma that was a joy to watch. He did about five songs, every one of which had the audience rapt and/or laughing and made me wish that I’d written it first. His website has a few videos of him performing that are well worth a look. He’s living in Nashville now, but is touring through parts of the US over the next couple of months. If you have a chance to see him, don’t miss it!