Album Review
The singer-songwriter — and longtime friend of Snider, who died last year — champions those who perpetually have the deck stacked against them on an inspiring new album
Everyone praises the outlaw — the outsider, the rebel. But what about the underdog? It’s a less glamorous character. Less marketable, for sure. But it’s where Aaron Lee Tasjan digs in on his newest LP, Get Over It, Underdog, with inspiration from his mentor and consummate booster of the underdog, the late Todd Snider.
Tasjan had reached an impasse after releasing 2024’s excellent Stellar Evolution and snagging a Grammy nomination. Despite any accolades that may have come, the environment for an independent artist seemed gloomier than ever. Being an underdog in entertainment kind of just felt like being underwater.
So Tasjan reached out to Snider, his close friend (Tasjan produced what would be Snider’s last album, High, Lonesome, and Then Some), for advice. He encouraged him — in his very Todd Snider sort of way — to keep going. Snider became a sounding board for a set of 11 songs that meld Tasjan’s knack for off-kilter but truly humanistic storytelling with vibrant melodies that shift and shine: a little glam rock, a little sing-talk folk, a lot of empathizing for the kind of underdog that may not get a lot of attention but still has a whole lot to say.
