Hard Working Americans

Personnel: Todd Snider (vocals); Neal Casal (guitar, background vocals); Chad Staehly (keyboards); Dave Schools (bass guitar); Duane Trucks (drums, percussion).
Audio Mixer: John Keane.
Recording information: TRI Studios, San Rafael, CA.
Photographers: James Martin ; Claudia Craig; Neal Casal.
Arranger: Hard Working Americans.
While Todd Snider is best known as a witty and insightful songwriter, in 2013 he gathered together a handful of friends who are also gifted musicians and let some of his favorite songwriters do the talking for a change. Hard Working Americans is a new band that features Snider on vocals and guitar, along with guitarist Neal Casal (of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood), bassist Dave Schools (from Widespread Panic), keyboardist Chad Staehly (Great American Taxi), and drummer Duane Trucks (King Lincoln). For their self-titled debut album, Hard Working Americans picked 11 cover tunes which deal with the hard truths of life among the working class, some recent compositions, and other, older songs that have remained relevant with the passage of time. Songs include "Welfare Music," "Blackland Farmer," "Mr. President, Have Pity on the Working Man," "Down to the Well," "Wrecking Ball," and six others. ~ Mark Deming