The Fourth was with us at the Howard Theater on Star Wars Day, May 4th, when Benjamin Tod and Lost Dog Street Company played to an eager crowd of Wrangler jeans, Coors cans, and hundreds of tattoos. Leading a life by example, there is no mark of authenticity greater than as when Benjamin Tod came onto stage in what he presumably wears while homesteading with wife and bandmate, Ashley Mae, in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. As my hero Henry David Thoreau once stated, “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.” And Tod will be damned if he changes for anybody, as will be demonstrated throughout the night.

Good friends and even better performers, the Resonant Rogues opened for Lost Dog over the weekend. As they played their folk set, I was enveloped by a mountain mist. Following the tree line at dawn, getting misplaced in the fog while goosebumps grow on your skin, until the thick pines open up to a meadow where a weathered cabin stands and husband and wife duo welcome you with their banjo and Appalachian ballads. That is what the Resonant Rogues conjure in their songs: a place of home. A concept they spent years cultivating both in their music and personal lives as their song “Ridgelines” is most illustrative of. The band was in search of some land to call home near Marshall, North Carolina when they wrote the song about a place they serendipitously manifested, as singer and banjo player Sparrow Smith remarked during their set.

There was a quiet, respectful buzz of anticipation as the Howard Theater began to welcome loyal fans. When I say loyal, it’s not just “we’ll come to your shows and buy your merch,” it’s a way of life: simplicity and sincerity. After about an 18-month hiatus, Benjamin Tod & Lost Dog Street Band reunited to promote their most recent album, Survived, which is exactly the sentiment Tod wanted to drive home. After years of living and performing on the streets and using hard drugs, he has embarked on a new journey of self-care and gratitude. The original members of the band consists of husband and wife duo Benjamin Tod on vocal and lead guitar and Ashley Mae on fiddle, and Jeff Loops on upright bass. For their reunion tour, they added Ben Duvall on drums and Tebbs Karneyon pedal steel guitar. 

After retiring the band’s projects at the end of 2022, Benjamin Tod thought Lost Dog Street Band was lost for good to instead focus on he and his wife’s 200 acres and the community in Muhlenberg County in Kentucky, where they started a non-profit dedicated to providing musical instruments and instruction to youth in the county. In an interview with Saving Country Music, Tod reflected on his decision to reunite the band after about a year. Prioritizing himself through his sobriety, mental health, craft, family, community, Tod wanted to “take a step back from being a public figure” and continue writing and making music on his own. But after making said music, he felt that to be able to fully access the potential and the emotion behind it, it needed the support of Lost Dog Street Band. Not only taking into account Tod’s physical health, which has been affecting his ability to play the guitar, he noted that not focusing so much on guitar has allowed him to “actually feel the music and get into the music being played.”

As Benjamin Tod stands with pride, confidence, and grace on stage, there’s a painful understanding on his face; smiles become heavy after a lifetime of hopping trains and busking, which is what Tod and Mae did for more than a decade before settling down. You can see the aching in his eyes trying to keep hidden what his mouth yearns to speak. The first thing you notice about Benjamin Tod is scrolled upon his neck,  the “hobo zipcode,” 11030, as if to say “all which I am and that comes out of me starts here.” 

The sincerity in his lyrics and vocals is enough to make you question your own priorities, and the trademark cadence in his voice makes you feel not only the trial by fire that he has endured through the years but his persisting hope as well. Benjamin Tod is emblematic of what Americana and Roots music is. There is no peacocking or impressing. You write what you feel and you play to those who will listen. It’s not even about reaching the most people possible. Tod admittedly says he has a love/hate relationship with the country genre of today but recognizes its usefulness, especially when reaching fans who can heed his words and strength. 

Something familiar about Benjamin Tod’s set. Not familiar like I had seen him before (because I hadn’t), but the familiarity was in his energy. The way he gave us his pain and in return we gave him healing. And that’s the purpose and promise of the relationship between the artist and the audience. They have something we want, which is usually an unadulterated access to emotion and perspective that we push down in our day to day lives to keep us focused on the trivialities of our time.

In an interview with Americana Highways in 2019, Tod notes that he “never wanted to be famous…[and] just want[ed] to make a living doing this and inspire people to fight their own demons.” This is Benjamin Tod; there is no mistaking it. And this is the root of Roots music. As I hung outside the pit waiting to capture Tod and crew on stage, I chatted with the security guard about the night’s music, because let’s face it, some people have as strong a distaste for Americana as they do eating spoonfuls of vinegar. Can’t understand why, personally, but the affable guard appreciated the music due its relatable stories and reminded me of the music’s core themes: hard work, healing, and heartbreak. And Tod would add “hope” to that as throughout his healing and getting sober has led to some of his best writing to date, as he mentions in the same interview. 

The band dropped their newest album, Survived, on April 26, 2024, and they will be touring throughout May, including an appearance at Railbird (sorry to brag, but I’ll be going!) To learn more about Lost Dog Street Band’s non-profit Muhlenberg Music Mission, please visit the website.

The Resonant Rogues

To learn more about Lost Dog Street Band, please see the following web resources:

• Webpage
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• TIDAL
• Spotify
• Apple Music
• Amazon Music

To learn more about The Resonant Rogues, please see the following web resources:

• Webpage
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• TIDAL
• Spotify
• Bandcamp