Benjamin Tod

Benjamin Tod’s eyes light up when asked what it’s
like to finally embrace happiness and accept love. With a slight grin, he sips his
coffee and leans back, one arm draped casually and comfortably over the chair.
“I’m kind of settling into my age, into allowing myself to be happy,” the 33-year-
old says. “For years, I led myself and the people around me into a lot of
unnecessary darkness. And now, I’ve learned how to give and receive affection —
it’s helped heal a lot of parts of myself.”

“This latest record is so unusual for what I do,” Tod says. “It’s almost a spite
album, to prove what I can do as a writer in whatever medium I step into.”
Titled Shooting Star, the album carves a fresh creative path for Tod, a storied
singer-songwriter and frontman of Lost Dog Street Band. The self-proclaimed
“proprietor of misery,” Tod finds himself transcending into a life of gratitude,
patience, and stability.

Shooting Star is also a full-circle moment for Tod. Coming of age in Music City,
he found himself squarely in the midst of rough-n-tumble Lower Broadway.
Busking on street corners playing Woody Guthrie and Jim Ringer tunes for spare
change. And getting kicked out of Robert’s Western World or Layla’s Honky Tonk
“more times than most regulars had been before the age of 20.”

“Right now, I’m very excited for the future, and very thankful,” Tod says. “I’ve
worked incredibly hard and made changes in my life — I’m becoming the person
I’ve longed to become for years.”