Todd Snider collected talented people. Throughout his life, he found himself in the orbit of groundbreaking songwriters like Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joe Shaver, and Jerry Jeff Walker, who was instrumental in helping Snider launch his career.

Snider, who died Nov. 14 at 59, often did likewise with younger artists, most notably with Sierra Ferrell , the Grammy-winning songwriter whom he first encountered outside of a venue in West Virginia in 2014, with, Snider wrote, a “group of rail kids.”

During a special Snider tribute episode of Rolling Stone ’s Nashville Now podcast, Elizabeth Cook and Chuck Mead recount the tale of how Snider met and encouraged Ferrell. “A lot of people don’t know that,” Cook says.

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“He told m

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