“I wanted to dig under the darkest impulses of humanity for this
album, and that is violence, selfishness, and destruction,” says
Benjamin Tod, guitarist, vocalist, and primary songwriter of Americana
trio Lost Dog Street Band. The Muhlenberg County, Kentucky-based
group’s latest album, its fifth overall, Weight Of A Trigger, out
March 29th, is a potent distillation of its outlaw heartache soul. The
dark impulses Ben sings about are simply the demons that have driven
him since he was a teen. At 16, Ben left home to play music on the
streets. Since then, he’s lived under bridges, slept in jail cells,
sought freedom hopping freight trains, battled addiction, and watched
many good friends die from the same rambling disease. Some states, he
remains a wanted man with active warrants. Though Ben has been
aimless, and destructive, he’s always been prolific through
exorcising his demons in song. Even if that meant writing songs at
7:00 AM in dank and dark basements strung out on drugs and drunk. His
companion in life and music, Ashley Mae, is an accomplished fiddle
player and harmony singer. The pair met in the Nashville punk scene
when Ben was 15, and Ashley was 17. They share in a tumultuous love
affair that’s defied adventures, and misadventures. The couple
formed Lost Dog Street Band in the winter of 2010. The duo’s vision
was to carry on the tradition of the American troubadour with fine
Americana songcraft and starkly real storytelling. Today, Ben and
Ashley Mae are joined by bassist Jeff Loops of the beloved roots band,
Deep Chatham. The three-piece group’s latest, Weight Of A Trigger,
is a portal into when Americana was peopled by sensitive outlaws who
pleaded for salvation in song. The 10-song collection spans old-time
music, Appalachian folk, redemptive country blues, and winsome
balladry. Each song is elegantly essential, using teardrop pedal steel
guitar, delicate fingerpicked passages, emotive harmony vocals, and
stately violin touches as delicate dynamic touches. It’s an album of
hard truths themed around a three-part narrative of Thomas Clancy
Russell, and stories of fated love, addiction, tragic deaths, and
rising demons. The poetic former collaborator Nicholas Ridout, a
uniquely gifted musician who left before his time is always honored on
their albums. His presence is made all the more poignant by Lost
Street Dog performing his sweetly high lonesome song “Lazy
Moonshiner.”
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08/06/2020 Last update