Robert Earl Keen Pays Tribute to Todd Snider: ‘If He’s in Hell, He’s Leading the Pack’

When Todd Snider died Nov. 14 at 59, artists of all stripes paid tribute to the East Nashville singer-songwriter, sharing their memories of Snider on social media and covering his songs onstage. Elizabeth Cook, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and Chuck Mead joined Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast to celebrate Snider’s legacy, and Turnpike Troubadours recorded and released a version of his song “Just Like Old Times.”

This past Friday in Austin, Robert Earl Keen wrapped up his concert at the Moody Theater with a rendition of “Play a Train Song,” the beloved singalong off Snider’s 2004 LP East Nashville Skyline that Keen recorded for his own 2011 album Ready for Confetti.

“I think about him a lot and I’m sure if he’s in heaven he’s raising hell. And if he’s in hell, he’s like leading the pack,” Keen said onstage to preface the song. He went on to call Snider “one of the funniest, most brilliant people I ever met. I miss him but he left a hell of a legacy. He made a lot of people happy.”

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Then he lit into “Play a Train Song,” delivering a ragged but right performance of the song that Snider wrote about East Nashville eccentric Skip Litz, who was known for heckling artists to, as the title suggests, sing a song about a train. Litz died in 2003.

Keen, currently on his annual holiday tour, will bring the “Greatest Christmas on Earth” show to Houston’s House of Blues on Sunday night. He returns to the road on Feb. 5 opening for Turnpike Troubadours at the Met in Philadelphia.