Authentically country from someone who’s paid his dues.
Benjamin Tod is the founder and vocalist of Lost Dog Street Band who he has decided to step away from for the moment and release a solo album using various musicians from his hometown of Nashville. It is fair to say this is an unapologetically country album from start to finish. Complete with slide guitars, striking honky tonk pianos, and dashing fiddles, all supporting Tod’s authentic country tones. This is a honky tonk record that ably demonstrates that when it’s done properly it can appeal to a much wider audience on so many levels. “It spilled out seamlessly,” he commented on the record. “I wanted to prove to myself and the industry that I could write an elite country record with ease”
The strength of ‘Shooting Star’ is that all aspects of the genre are on show. It swings extremely easily and deliberately from Hank Williams to George Jones and emphatically on ‘Satisfied with Your Love’ to Commander Cody. The album opens with the single ‘I Ain’t The Man’, a song about how native Nashville residents feel they are being taken over by people who have moved in from the coasts and are dealing with the negative aspects some bring. It’s an interesting and unusual perspective on a musician’s life in the city.
Tod explores difficulties further in ‘Shooting Star’ “Music City on the rise But I’ve always deemed wedged between the railroad and a gun” . He feels he has grown up on the outside of the mainstream being thrown out of bars more times than most. ‘ For years I led myself and the other people around me into a lot of unnecessary darkness. And now, I’ve got to give and receive affection- it’s helped heal a lot of parts of myself’. The closing track, a duet with Sierra Ferrell, has a beautiful gospel feel to it, a real old-fashioned tear-jerker.
Tod has attempted through this album to move on from his past, get back to his honky tonk roots, and prove himself to the country establishment. They are songs about his personal growth. If you like the more traditional side of Americana this is an album definitely worth exploring.
