From learning old-time music in his family home to hosting John Lee Hooker, Guy and Townes.
Ed Snodderly is a child of the American South and he so is obsessed with its culture and music that he has spent nearly fifty years working with it. He learnt guitar on his father’s and uncles’ guitar which was bought in the ‘30s from the profits of the family’s tobacco crop. He has built a career as a singer-songwriter who had a couple of albums on the famed Sugar Hill label and his songs have been covered by Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas amongst others, he is co-founder of The Down Home venue in Johnson City, Tennessee, which has played host to everybody from blues players Willie Dixon and John Lee Hooker to songwriters of the calibre of Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. If this wasn’t enough he also teaches Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music at the University Of East Tennessee. Americana UK’s Martin Johnson caught up with Ed Snodderly over Zoom as he sat on a park bench in Asheville, North Caroline, to talk about his career and his latest record, ‘Chimney Smoke’, which features the cream of Nashville players and ex-pupil Amythyst Kiah. While he is a champion of roots music, he also recognises the influence of The Beatles on the world of music and he shares his love of avant-garde, jazz and rock guitarist Marc Ribot.