Tim Snider “By Your Side”

About Tim Snider and “By Your Side”

A man stands atop a stump on the edge of a forest with a fiddle. He could be the spirit of the woods — a personification of the tree that was. With no malice whatsoever, he brings his instrument to his chin and begins a blinding, soulful, fleet-fingered solo. Though he dances in place on the stump as he plays, he never loses his footing. He is, above all, rooted.

The man is Tim Snider, leader of the majestic Wolfgang Timber, and violin isn’t all he plays. He’s also an adept guitarist, a warm and welcoming vocalist, and a wizard with a loop pedal. Those who’ve seen him in action — onstage at Bonnaroo, Glastonbury, or Byron Bay Blues, or opening for Zac Brown, Dispatch, Xavier Rudd, or Rebelution — will be familiar with his passion, his inventiveness, his flexibility, and his remarkable dexterity. Snider is the sort of musician who can assemble an entire folk-rock symphony from looped passages and then follow it up with a composition of exquisite simplicity and directness.

“By Your Side,” the latest single, is quintessential Snider. It’s an immensely catchy and effortlessly winning composition that seamlessly incorporates rhythmic and harmonic elements gleaned from folk traditions from around the globe. The track showcases the artist’s astounding musical skills, but there’s nothing ostentatious about it: every perfectly placed downstroke and electrifying fiddle passage is there to enhance the meaning of the song. The message is of radical compassion, acceptance, dedication, and the enduring power of togetherness. It could be delivered to a partner by a beloved spouse, a parent to a child, or a bandleader to his collaborators.

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