Seeking a change from his usual collaborators, Todd Snider gathered an all-star ensemble of jam band and alt-country veterans called Hard Working Americans. Following the conclusion of his 2012 tour supporting Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables, he discussed his approach to musical partnerships with Chad Staehly, the keyboardist from Great American Taxi. Snider told reporter Jonathan Bernstein, "One day Chad Staehly pointed out to me that I spend a lot of time with my heroes and avoid my peers." Staehly continued, "He was like, 'I always see you with Jerry Jeff (Walker), or John Prine, or Kris Kristofferson. Who do you like that's your age?'" Acting on that observation, Snider recruited fellow musicians of comparable experience: Staehly on keyboards, guitarist Neal Casal from the Chris Robinson Brotherhood and Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, bassist Dave Schools of Widespread Panic, and drummer Duane Trucks from King Lincoln and Col. Bruce Hampton's School of Music.
The ensemble took the name Hard Working Americans and, for its first recording, set aside Snider's original compositions in favor of covers that addressed the challenges of everyday labor. December 2013 marked the group's initial public performance at a benefit event in Denver, Colorado. Early the next year The Hard Working Americans appeared, after which the musicians embarked on a brief tour. October 2014 brought the live document The First Waltz, drawn from those road dates and paired with a film chronicling the band's origins. Rest in Chaos, the second studio album, emerged in May 2016 and emphasized newly written songs instead of reinterpretations. The following summer yielded another concert recording, We're All in This Together.
