Benjamin Tod Plots New Honky Tonk Album “Shooting Star”

In the minds of many, Benjamin Tod of the Lost Dog Street Band is already a master of old-time Appalachian roots mixed with a punk attitude and DIY spirit. So now he’s setting his sights on tackling a somewhat adjacent, but decidedly different challenge for himself to the delight of many of his country-leaning fans. His new album Shooting Star out October 18^th will be Benjamin’s foray into old school country.

“I started playing on the streets of Lower Broad as soon as I was a teenager and was kicked out of Robert’s, Layla’s, and Gruhn Guitar more times than most regulars had been there before the age of 20,” Tod says. He was also kicked out of school at age 14, and along with hopping trains, he spent ample time in Nashville, which was just down the road from the tiny community of Cottontown where he grew up, close enough where he can consider himself a Nashville native.

“Looking back now, I see how much those experiences shaped and influenced me. I certainly took it for granted most of my life, but now that I’m on the ‘backside of thirty’ I can feel the Honky Tonk deep down in my blood.”

Making a straight up country record was inside of Benjamin Tod and needed to come out. Helping him in this process was producer Andrija Tokic, who is quickly becoming the throwback country extraordinaire from his work with Melissa Carper, Ian Noe, John R. Miller, JP Harris and more. He also solicited the services of a host of “Nashville Cats,” i.e. seasoned studio musicians to make sure the album came to life authentically.

“The original idea for this album was for each song to be placed in a different production period in country music history,” says Tod, which was first revealed here on SCM earlier this year. “Obviously, there’s no way to cover everything so my preference shines through. A tune goes as far back as the mid-50s and spans up to the early 90’s.”

Ahead of the album, Benjamin Tod has released the new song “I Ain’t The Man,” which recalls incidents of Tod being mistaken as a hipster transplanted to Nashville from a coastal town as so many of the city’s inhabitants are these days. He sees Nashville as his town, and a town that he belongs in.

“I wanted to prove to myself and the industry that I could write an elite country record with ease,” Tod says, claiming he wrote the whole record in a matter of two weeks. “If I didn’t accomplish that goal, I sure as hell came closer than anyone on pop country radio either way.”

Shooting Star is now available for pre-save and pre-order.