Since she arrived in Richmond six years ago, the 31-year-old Cassidy Snider has left plenty of people shaking their heads with a smile. With her raspy voice and striking looks, the African American vocalist and songwriter makes music (with her band, the Wranglers) that is refreshingly unclassifiable, rooted in a traditional acoustic sound based on country music, the blues and ragtime. She calls it “soulbilly.”
“She’s so good that in every place I’ve seen her, she leaves with a whole new selection of fans,” says Matt Hansen, the owner of The Camel, the singer’s favorite venue. “People who see her for the first time are often like, ‘Where did you come from?’
Snider grew up in Milford, Connecticut and spent much of her childhood at nearby St. Paul’s Church of God in Bridgeport, where her uncle was pastor and her aunt was choir leader. Her original plan was to study law in college but she gave up a prestigious internship in order to start performing, ending up in New Orleans and becoming a traveling cook working at music venues across the country (she still has that gig 15 weeks out of the year).
She made her way to Richmond in 2018 and decided to put down roots.
“That surprised a lot of people,” she recalls. “They were, like, how could you leave New Orleans? New Orleans is its own place, its own story. But we have the river here … it sounds very corny but that kind of ‘slow down’ mentality is what has kept me here.”
Snider decided to give back to her adopted hometown by booking and hosting an annual Juneteenth concert at The Camel.
“I wanted a safe space for people of color to explore all kinds of music,” she says. These multi-artist shows have featured music ranging from hardcore punk to folk, from delta blues to rap, all made by African Americans.
“Putting the Juneteenth show together is really important to show everybody that you don’t need to fit into any type of box,” Snider says. “You can do it all.”
