The Devil You Know

Todd Snider’s a songwriter who slips through the cracks. He’s too rock for the folk crowd, too folk for the country audience, and too humorous for the dour, serious songwriters. He made a big initial impression with “Talkin’ Seattle Grunge Rock Blues” and his best work straddles the line between serious and stupid with a high-wire walker’s sense of balance. The Devil You Know roots itself in a Stones-ish swagger of rhythmic shuffles. “Looking for a Job” hustles past the unavoidable economic truths facing many service-industry workers. “You Got Away With It (a Tale of Two Fraternity Brothers)” takes a not-so favorable look at the privileged elite. “The Highland Street Incident” tells a tale of a mugging not from the viewpoint of the victim (who in real life was Snider) but from that of the mugger.  It’s these novel twists that keep Snider sharp and his audience nervously tapping their toes. Snider can strip it down to quiet acoustic and harmonica for “Just Like Old Times” or flip the electric switch for “Thin Wild Mercury,” a title-nod to Dylan and another stylistic turn to the Stones.