Bob Schneider
I’m Good Now (Vanguard) Bob Schneider has found a musical formula that works, and he ain’t budging from that anytime soon. That doesn’t mean that he hasn’t grown. In the 100 years (OK, three) since his solo debut, Lonelyland, a lot has happened in the ubiquitous local singer’s life that’s reflected in the more introspective, mature tone of I’m Good Now. There was the movie star breakup, incessant touring, and marriage to a school nurse. It would also appear that he found God somewhere along the way, because the Big Guy seems to have replaced, thematically, at least, the love interests in Schneider’s lyrics, along with a preoccupation (or anxiety, rather) about going to heaven. The same Bob Schneider earthiness is here, aw-shucks wordsmithing like “Baby, you’re as pretty as the big blue sky” (“Come With Me Tonight”), as well as the oddball “I went to your house a little monkey in the gloom” (“Gold in the Sunset”). The difference lies in the older, wiser delivery of a sadder, mellower narrative. It’s the same Bob Schneider, but not the old young Bob Schneider that reveals himself in this document of an aging playboy trying to be good.
This article appears in April 23 • 2004.