Most fans know Benjamin Tod from his work in Lost Dog Street Band or his deeply personal acoustic solo albums. Today (October 18), though, he is officially beginning a new chapter of his solo career. Shooting Star sees him stepping away from the folk-inspired sound that he’s cultivated for more than a decade and into the realm of honky tonk. The sounds present in the album’s 11 tracks cover decades of country music history.
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Earlier this year, Tod sat down with American Songwriter to discuss Shooting Star, the future of his career, and more.
Benjamin Tod on His Nashville Roots
Shooting Star is solid country gold. It combines the sounds of classic country with Benjamin Tod’s songwriting and attitude. However, it is such a massive sonic shift that the first question we asked was “Why make a honky tonk record?”
“From around the age of 13 I started spending time on Lower Broadway and I predominately play in the folk tradition—Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, and Jim Ringer were my original influences. For whatever reason, along with me being in the punk scene, I always say my childhood was a mixture of GG Allin and Bob Dylan,” Tod recalled.
“The original rebellion was against the country music industry. Me and my friends kind of laugh now that we grew up in what we consider now to be the capital of the heritage of the greatest music that was ever produced on the planet and we took it for granted,” Tod said. “I used to play on the streets down on Lower Broad and you had to use the bathroom at Robert’s which was always one of my favorites. I knew a lot of people who had residencies at Robert’s and Layla’s at that time. I took a lot of influence from that,” he added.
“Now, coming back around, the older I get pretty much all I listen to is classic country and honky tonk. It’s been that way since I was around 25 or 26 when I came back around to listening to less string band and singer/songwriter stuff. What’s on my general playlist for a day—which I don’t listen to a whole lot of music in general—but when I do it is always Randy Travis, George Jones, and Travis Tritt,” Tod explained.
Shooting Star Is a Homecoming
While Shooting Star seems like a huge departure from the outside looking in, this album has been waiting for Benjamin Tod to make it for years. “It’s kind of a homecoming to where I developed and the influences that I kind of buried in my life for years,” he said. “In some ways, it was a spite album. I wrote the album over the span of two weeks to prove that I could do it. To prove that I could write an elite record in a different medium if I wanted to and I’m pretty proud of it,” he revealed.
While he’s proud of what he’s created, he knows there’s plenty of competition. “I did feel that way up until 2024. Then, this year has been an explosion of incredible records coming out. Now, I’m kind of like, ‘Well shit. Maybe I should have put this out in 2023.’ It would have really hammered. Now, everybody is putting out great classic country records. It’s a great and really, really challenging time to be an artist and a songwriter in this medium,” he said.
The State of the Country and Americana World
Benjamin Tod has been actively recording and touring for more than a decade. He’s watched the country and Americana world turn and change several times. Currently, though, there seems to be a crop of new artists coming up all the time. “Ironically, the style of music that pretty much produced for the majority of my career which is poetic folk singer/songwriter type stuff is what has exploded. I wish I could move the records that I put out in 2017, ’19, and ’21 to right now and pick up on the momentum of the time. People like Zach Bryan, Sam Barber, and Wyatt Flores are really rolling with that style right now,” he explained. “It’s kind of weird, I’m flipping places with the movement of what’s popular,” he added.
While there’s much competition in the form of young artists, Tod is happy to see them making music that moves people. More than that, he’s glad to be one of the artists who influenced them. “I’m happy to be part of the influence on that generation. It’s incredibly inspiring to meet Sam Barber and folks in the community and for them to tell me the reason they got into music was the stuff I was doing eight years ago,” Tod said. “That’s incredible. I can kind of hang my hat on that, at least, that my music has made an impact on future generations and inspired people. That’s what it’s for.”
What Does the Future Hold for Benjamin Tod
Some fans might hear Shooting Star and wonder if it’s a one-off experiment or the beginning of a new era for Benjamin Tod. We asked him what the future of his career looks like.
“I just got out of the studio with Jesse Daniel. Me and him cut two tracks, we wrote a track together. That is in a more traditional honky tonk vein,” he revealed when asked if he planned to make more honky tonk music.
“I don’t know how things are going to be formulated from here on between Lost Dog and Benjamin Tod. But I am definitely going to continue producing classic country sounds. I think that’s going to be alongside the more folk archetypal stuff that I write because I continuously still write that,” he revealed. “Right now, I’m pretty sure I’ve got another record for Lost Dog and/or solo Benjamin Tod in the barrel. Then again, I’m looking at doing a classic country cover record as well,” he added.
“That’s my favorite thing to play right now when we get the band together and we’re not rehearsing. I’m playing an Alan Jackson tune or a Stonewall Jackson tune or a George Jones tune. That’s what’s most fun for me,” he said. “I’m at an age now where I want to enjoy myself as opposed to a majority of my career has been dedicated to wringing out the darkest parts of my psyche. I’m kind of emotionally burnt on doing that. Although, I still perform those old tunes but that’s not where I’m at in life anymore.”
Shooting Star is available to stream across digital platforms and on CD and 180-gram vinyl.
Featured Image by Steve Galli/Shutterstock
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