Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables

Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables
Studio album by Todd Snider
Released	March 6, 2012 (2012-03-06)
Genre	Folk rock
Length	42:25
Label	Aimless/Thirty Tigers
Producer	Todd Snider
Todd Snider chronology
Time as We Know It: The Songs of Jerry Jeff Walker (2011) Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables (2012) Eastside Bulldog (2016)

Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables is the eleventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Todd Snider, released on March 6, 2012 by Aimless Records.

Critical reception

Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables received mostly favorable reviews from critics, its themes of economic inequality resonating with critics. ^[1] Daryl Sanders described the record in The East Nashvillian as a “one-man Occupy Wall Street movement.” ^[2] In his review for Rolling Stone , Jody Rosen called it “Occupy Nashville.” ^[3] Writing in Relix , Jewly Hight said Snider “plays the part of a winking, pot-stirring anarchist” on the album. ^[4] In a piece for NPR, Ken Tucker said, “If one line could sum up the album, it's ‘It ain't the despair that gets you / It's the hope.’" ^[5] Both Rolling Stone ^[6] and Paste ^[7] named it one of the fifty best albums of 2012.

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(79/100) [1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[8]
American Songwriter	[9]
The A.V. Club	B+ [10]
PopMatters	[11]
Robert Christgau	A [12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
Slant	[14]
Spin	8/10 [15]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"In the Beginning"	Todd Snider	4:25
2.	"New York Banker"	Todd Snider	4:24
3.	"West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown"	Jimmy Buffett	4:27
4.	"Precious Little Miracles"	Todd Snider	3:04
5.	"The Very Last Time"	Todd Snider, Will Kimbrough	2:52
6.	"In Between Jobs"	Todd Snider, Elvis HIxx	3:01
7.	"Brenda"	Todd Snider	4:55
8.	"Too Soon To Tell"	Todd Snider	5:13
9.	"Digger Dave's Crazy Woman Blues"	Todd Snider, Eric McConnell, Digger Dave	4:20
10.	"Big Finish"	Todd Snider	5:53

Personnel

Musicians

• Todd Snider – lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, harmonica
• Paul Griffith – drums and percussion
• Eric McConnell – bass guitar
• Amanda Shires – violin and background vocals
• Chad Staehly - B3 organ
• Mick Utley – background vocals on “Too Soon To Tell”
• Jason Isbell – background vocals and slide guitar on “Digger Dave’s Crazy Woman Blues”

Production

• Todd Snider, Eric McConnell – producers
• Eric McConnell - engineer
• Brandon Henegar - mixing engineer
• Alex McCullough - mastering engineer ^[16]

References

1. Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables
2. Sanders, Daryl (March–April, 2012). ”Watch Out Wall Street”. The East Nashvillian.
3. Rosen, Jody (March 6, 2012). "Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
4. Hight, Jewly (March 22, 2012). "Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables". Relix. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
5. Tucker, Ken (April 23, 2012). "Todd Snider: 'Stoner Fables' With A Layered Worldview". NPR. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
6. "50 Best Albums of 2012". Rolling Stone. December 5, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
7. Jackson, Josh (November 26, 2012). "The 50 Best Albums of 2012". Paste. Archived from the original on December 6, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
8. Allmusic Review
9. American Songwriter Review
10. AV Club Review
11. PopMatters Review
12. CG: Todd Snider
13. Rolling Stone Review
14. Slant Review
15. Spin Review
16. Todd Snider, Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables, liner notes, 2012.