Todd Snider Passes Away At The Age Of 59 Following Battle With Pneumonia

A tragic end.

Yesterday it was announced that country/folk singer and songwriter Todd Snider was admitted to the hospital for a previously undiagnosed case of walking pneumonia.

From the way the announcement from Todd Snider’s friends and family sounded, it seemed like a more serious case:

“Hello friends, family, and members of the Shithouse Choir. We have some difficult news to share. After Todd returned home to recover last week, he began having trouble breathing and was admitted to the hospital in Hendersonville, TN. We learned from his doctors that he had been quietly suffering from an undiagnosed case of walking pneumonia.

Our beloved brother’s condition has become more complicated, and he’s since been transferred for additional treatment. His care team and those closest to him are by his side and doing everything they can.

Right now we’re asking everyone who loves Todd to hold him in your thoughts in whatever way feels right to you. Say a prayer, light a candle, roll one up, send strength, or just keep him close in your heart. You’ve carried him through so much over the years, and he needs that from all of us now more than ever. We’ll share more when there is more to tell. Thank you for surrounding him with so much love, support, and compassion.”

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And unfortunately, this morning it was announced that Snider has passed away:

“Aimless, Inc. Headquarters is heartbroken to share that our Founder, our Folk Hero, our Poet of the World, our Vice President of the Abrupt Change Dept., the Storyteller, our beloved Todd Daniel Snider has departed this world. Where do we find the words for the one who always had the right words, who knew how to distill everything down to its essence with words and song while delivering the most devastating, hilarious, and impactful turn of phrases? Always creating rhyme and meter that immediately felt like an old friend or a favorite blanket. Someone who could almost always find the humor in this crazy ride on Planet Earth.

He relayed so much tenderness and sensitivity through his songs, and showed many of us how to look at the world through a different lens. He got up every morning and started writing, always working towards finding his place among the songwriting giants that sat on his record shelves, those same giants who let him into their lives and took him under their wings, who he studied relentlessly. Guy Clark, John Prine, Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Jeff Walker.

How do we move forward without the one who gave us countless 90 minute distractions from our impending doom? The one who always had 18 minutes to share a story. We’ll do it by carrying his stories and songs that contain messages of love, compassion, and peace with us. Today, put on one of your favorite Todd Snider records and “play it loud enough to wake up all of your neighbors or at least loud enough to always wake yourself up.” We love you Todd, sail on old friend, we’ll see you again out there on the road somewhere down the line. You will always be a force of nature.”

Snider’s death comes at the end of a tumultuous few weeks that saw the singer arrested after reports that he was “violently attacked” outside of a Salt Lake City hotel before becoming combative and disruptive at the hospital.

He had also announced the cancelation of the rest of his High, Lonesome and Then Some Tour following the incident.

Snider released well over a dozen albums over the course of his 30-year music career, and was even at one point a member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band. He was 59 years old.

Just a terribly tragic end to a brilliant life and career.The post Todd Snider Passes Away At The Age Of 59 Following Battle With Pneumonia first appeared on Whiskey Riff.