Turnpike Troubadours released a new cover of Todd Snider’s “Just Like Old Times,” as a tribute to the influential singer-songwriter who passed this past week. Like the band’s previous two LPs since reuniting in 2023, the track was produced by Shooter Jennings.
In a press statement,, lead singer Evan Felker described Snider as a formative influence on the band:
“Todd was larger than life. And you sort of think he’ll be around forever, but unfortunately that’s not the way the world works. The guy was just in a league of his own as a storyteller. Sometimes it was in the song, sometimes it was in the monologue, and then he’d play the song, which was like the extra punch after he’d finished some great story setting it all up. An old school prize fighter setting up the knockout blow. I don’t know that there’s ever been, or ever will be, anyone better at that than him. I forget how much, especially in the early days, we tried to learn from him. To be like him. Everything from talking on stage to writing a song.
He wrote all kinds of songs. Every genre of music there was. He wrote funny songs. He wrote some of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard. Deeply personal stuff. Random observations, and he made that into art. He was always like a cat playing with a mouse with everybody else. One of the few people where you always felt like he knew something you didn’t. Had something up his sleeve. He preached the idea of being a lifer. He had this quote where he was like, ‘I don’t even know how to log into my bank account.’ We took that to heart.”
The release comes as the Oklahoma-based group continues its “Wild America Tour,” which will run into next summer with stops at major venues including New York’s Rooftop at Pier 17, Fort Worth’s Billy Bob’s, and Boston’s MGM Music Hall at Fenway. The band will also reunite with Cross Canadian Ragweed for three co-headlining “The Boys From Oklahoma” stadium shows in Stillwater, Lincoln, and Athens. The band also appeared in the penultimate episode of Yellowstone and has had eight songs featured in Paramount’s series Landman.
