Todd Snider -The Excitement Plan
9 June 2009
Yep Roc Records
Review by Nick Brandes

Alright, so to introduce this guy, I think I should just give you the premise to one of his songs.  He sings it from the level of a piece of junk mail that yearns to be a tree again. Yeah, it’s really rad.

To do this album any good via the words that I’m using, I feel I have to tell you what I love most about this album is the fact that it’s about hope.  The opening, “Slim Chance” is a great opener, especially when Snider sings, “I found a four leaf clover/In my yard today/It had one leaf missing off of it/But that was okay.” And the whole time his voice remains the same level as he heavily picks at a guitar.  It’s a wonder to behold folksy music that’s this damn enjoyable.

And then Snider channels his inner Dylan with “Bring Em’ Home” which is so incredibly enjoyable that you find yourself almost feeling a bit weird for the snapping of your fingers and tapping of your feet.  My favorite lines are when he sings, “I just enlisted like a lot of guys do/Hoping to maybe get a leg up on a dream or two/Now it seems like all I’m ever dying to do is Bring Em’ Home to you.”  And after this he breaks into an oddly melodic harmonica solo.

It’s a gem, and I’m not saying a rare gem because it seems like every year Mr. Snider is releasing some fantastic piece of music.  Last years, Peace Queer was greatly overlooked, and this album shouldn’t be.