Todd Snider has been through a number of changes since he burst on the national music scene in 1994 with his debut album, “Songs for the Daily Planet,” a roots-rock record on which the singer-songwriter first unveiled his penchant for biting satire as well as serious social commentary, such as “You Think You Know Somebody,” a song about an abused kid who grows up to be a batterer himself.

The East Nashville-based Snider, who comes to Race Street Live in Holyoke on April 16 at 8 p.m., later ditched rock and roll for the more typical solo acoustic guitar setup of singer-songwriters. But he’s never been a conventional folkie: With his sly humor, scratchy voice, and onstage monologues, he’s more a combination of folk-blues singer, offbeat poet, and stand-up comedian.

As he puts it on one of his live records as he introduces himself to the audience, “If everything goes particularly well this evening, we can all expect a 90-minute distraction from our impending doom.”

Several years ago, Snider spent time as the lead singer and chief songwriter for Hard Working Americans, a rock/jam band. Then he turned around and released “Cash Cabin Sessions Vol. 3” in 2019, an acclaimed bare-bones acoustic album with just vocals, harmonica and acoustic guitar.

On his newest album, “First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder,” Snider has flipped the format again, using some supporting musicians and playing bass, electric and acoustic guitars, banjo, piano and harmonica himself. It’s a bit of a concept album, with Snider playing the role of a con man reverend, and there’s some suitably loose-knit production that sounds funkier than much of his previous efforts.

Rolling Stone calls the album “funny, funky … hilarious and heartbreaking,” and it’s got plenty of classic Snider lyrics, including “If faith moves mountains, what’s it take to leave them alone? / I believe these mountains get around just fine on their own.” Another tune explores the huge plastic garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean that’s “adrift upon a sea of indifference,” as he puts it.

Louisiana-based singer/songwriter Kevin  Gordon, whose tunes have been recorded by Levon Helm, Keith Richards and others, opens the Race Street show.

 

The Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has been in a strange place for months and months. Last summer, frustrated by a prolonged contract dispute with management, the musicians formed their own group, Musicians of the Springfield Orchestra (MOSSO), and began staging some shows, including two concerts at Springfield Symphony Hall — the group just played there March 26.

The contract dispute has involved several issues, including what MOSSO has said is SSO’s lack of commitment to the symphony’s future. SSO management has not staged a live concert since before the pandemic arrived, saying the failure to settle a new contract has made planning shows too uncertain.

Yet the National Labor Relations Board faulted that reasoning in January, ordering SSO management to pay its musicians $276,406 in back wages — money they would have earned for playing concerts during the current season, the board said.

The NRLB decision also obligated SSO management to stage two concerts this spring — and the first one will finally take place on April 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Springfield Symphony Hall. “Of Heroes and Poets” will include music by Dvorak, Schuman and William Grant Still, whose work was inspired by the dance music of Panama.

The concert includes guest cellist Thomas Mesa, and it will be led by guest conductor Mark Russell Smith, a former music director and conductor of the SSO (the symphony has no current music director).

 

Is there some way to make divorce amusing? Kris Truelsen, lead singer and songwriter for the Americana band Bill and the Belles, tries to find the lighter side of his own breakup on the songs on the group’s most recent album, “Happy Again,” which came out last year.

The band, based in Bristol, Tennessee, has won praise from Rolling Stone, No Depression, and numerous other reviewers for its mix of old-time country rhythms, close harmonies, and pop sensibility. The four-member group (banjo, bass and fiddle, with Truelsen on guitar) comes to The Parlor Room in Northampton on April 24 at 7 p.m.

The songs on “Happy Again,” all written by Truelsen, look at love, heartbreak, depression, and getting back on your feet, all with plenty of deadpan humor. In a video for the tune “Sobbin’ the Blues,” Truelsen sits on steps outside a house as water cascades on his head, delivering a sort of country rap about a woman doing him wrong; then he screws up his face and howls with exaggerated pain on the chorus.

Jim Olsen, head of Signature Sounds, which is staging the April 24 show, says this will be the first area appearance for Bill and the Belles. In an email, he noted they host a popular live radio show at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, “which features lots of great artists as live guests. I saw them when visiting Bristol a few years ago and really enjoyed them.”

More music on tap

Singer Susan Dillard and pianist David Bartley join forces for some improvisational blues and jazz at Luthiers Co-op in Easthampton on April 16 from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Also on the bill is singer-songwriter Cameron Sutphin from 7 to 8 p.m. and rockers Flight of Silence from 9:30 to 11 p.m.

Singer-songwriter Amos Lee, whose new album, “Dreamland,” has been getting some nice reviews, comes to the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on April 16 at 7:30 p.m. Another singer-songwriter, Jensen McRae, opens the show.

Cloudbelly is the name of the Valley indie-folk duo formed a couple years ago by Corey Laitman and Anand Nyack; they signed with Signature Sounds last year and released a few singles. Nyack has since had to step away from the group because of increased family responsibilities, but Laitman is continuing Cloudbelly as a solo act and will play The Parlor Room on April 16 at 7 p.m., with backing by keyboardist Reed Sutherland.

Norah Jones found stardom at an early age with her 2002 album “Come Away With Me” and its breezy mix of jazz, blues, folk and pop. These days she’s part of another project, Puss n Boots, an alternative country band, with drummer Sarah Dobson and bassist Catherine Popper. They come to Race Street Live on April 20 at 8 p.m.

Melodic rocker Aimee Mann will play cuts from her newest album, “Queens of The Summer Hotel,” at Northampton’s Academy of Music on April 22 at 8 p.m.; the songs are based on the memoir “Girl, Interrupted” by Susanna Kaysen.

The Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity in Florence is hosting music with South American flavor next week. Argentine singer Juana Molina plays indie/electronic/folk on April 22; UMass Amherst composer and saxophonist Felipe Salles, a native of Brazil, brings his large jazz ensemble to Bombyx on April 24; and Brazilian singer-songwriter Sessa, backed by a female choir and Afro-Brazilian percussion, plays April 25.

Banjos, banjos, and more banjos: You can hear them all at The New American Banjo Festival at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls on April 23 beginning at 7 p.m. Livestream access is available through registration.

Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.

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