Tim Snider is a Portland-based multi-instrumentalist, singer and loop-based solo performer originally from Reno, Nevada. He plays electric violin, guitar, cajón and vocals, building layered arrangements that draw on rock, folk, Latin and other world music influences.

Early life and musical development

Snider starts violin at the age of three after being inspired by a performance by Itzhak Perlman on Sesame Street. He studies classical violin throughout elementary school and earns concertmaster of the Reno Junior Philharmonic at the age of 10. He later takes a break from violin and turns to guitar, playing in rock bands through high school and exploring classic rock, blues, folk, funk, metal and grunge.

His musical influences include artists such as Ben Harper and Paul Simon. Time spent in Spain and Cuba also brings flamenco, salsa and Afro-Cuban rhythms into his playing. He later studies flamenco guitar in Spain with Milton Merlos after the two explore flamenco, Cuban salsa and West African music together.

Sol'Jibe

After returning to the United States in 2003, Snider enrols at the University of Nevada, Reno and forms Sol'Jibe, a group that blends American roots, world beat and Latin rhythms. The band becomes known for a style described as “World Rock”. Sol'Jibe is named Reno's Best Local Band four years in a row and plays sold-out ticketed shows of up to 800 people. In 2005, the group travels to Cuba to study at the National School of Music in Havana and tours through Central America.

The band also supports artists including Michael Franti, Robert Randolph and Steel Pulse, and independently plays more than 200 festivals and shows a year across the US, Mexico, Canada and Cuba.

Solo work and collaborations

Snider later bases himself in Portland, Oregon, and performs solo shows using live loops to combine violin, guitar, percussion and vocals. He also performs with a range of other artists and bands, including Medicine for the People, Max Ribner Band, Amber Rubarth, House of Waters, Jelly Bread, Cody Beebe and the Crooks, Blake Noble and Chris Lay.

In 2010, he releases his first solo EP, The Delmar Sessions, on which he plays all the instruments and produces the recording himself. He also releases Let Go, Jump in the River and tours in support of the record.

Family background

Snider's grandmother predicts that he will become a violinist when he is an infant. Her own love of violin comes from her father, Theodore Post, who studies violin at Juilliard and Harvard and helps found the music department at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Style

His music combines electric violin, guitar and looping with elements of rock, Latin music and folk, and is shaped by what he presents as a confessional and raw approach.