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10/18/2024 Benajmin Tod (from the album Shooting StarsBenajmin Tod (from the album Shooting Star available on Benjamin Tod/Thirty Tigers) (by Brian Rock)
Benjamin Tod channels Honky Tonk stars of the past on his fourth solo album Shooting Stars. The Lost Dog Street Band frontman pays homage to heroes from Waylon Jennings to Marty Stuart to Jeremy Pinnell. With pedal steel and fiddle leading the way, Benajmin Tod recreates the classic sound of Country’s storied past. To that rich tradition he adds touches of Jazz, Rockabilly, Swing, Noir Country, and Bluegrass to add depth and texture to an already expressive genre. “I Ain’t the Man” sets the tone for the album with weepy pedal steel and moaning fiddle. Describing a man at war with society and with himself, Tod sings, ‘I ain’t the man you think I am. I’ve been nice and clean for 90 days, but don’t poke the wolf inside his cave. I can flip the script with a sleight of hand’. For anyone foolish enough to try to get close to him, Tod warns that he can change in an instant. The classic Country rhythms convey the tone of an outlaw who’s always on the run. Summing up his attitude towards to world, he sings ‘call the law or let me be’. Either fight him or leave him alone, but don’t try to get to know him. Like Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger, you’d best not cross him. Tod adds uses a smoother, Countrypolitan flair on “Tramp Like Me”. Trying to entice an out-of-his-league woman, Tod sings, ‘you’ve been looking for some danger. I can see it in your eyes. I’m a wayfaring stranger, I could take you for a ride’. The stylish tones hint that it would be a ride she would long remember. “Back Toward the Blue” captures the Jazzy elegance of Clint Black’s, “Put Yourself In My Shoes”. Lamenting the woman who had the power to ‘take with you all the good in me’ Benjamin Tod wishes she finds a taste of her own medicine in the not-too-distant future. “Satisfied With Your Love” picks up the Jazz pace to a Swing tempo as he joyfully confesses ‘I’ve been domesticated, I don’t even hate it’. “Mary Could You” adds a fiery Rockabilly rhythm to tell the tale of an entrepreneurial woman who specializes in stitching up wounded men on the run from the law. Switching to ballads, Benajmin Tod trods the tear-stained trail of classic Country tearjerkers. “Saguaro’s Flower” is a musical metaphor for missing a lover like a desert cactus misses the rain. “Nothing More” recounts the false hope of a man yearning for a former lover; finally admitting that ‘I’ve only deceived the fool in the mirror’. Again, “Like It or Not” pledges love to a departed lover. “One Last Time” confronts the pain of knowing you are the cause of your own broken heart. Singing ‘I’m acquainted with sin. He’s a hell of a friend. He can turn all the goodness to grief with the trouble of ten’, Tod poetically describes the cost of giving in to temptation. The album’s title track, “Shooting Star”, deals with heartache of a different kind. Singing about the pain of not being able to realize your musical dreams, Tod moans you will break and you will bend, and they will never let you in’. Contemplating his options, he declares ‘you can play the honky tonks in heaven when you’re dead, but prove it here instead’. With his worn leather voice and classic Country arrangements, Benjamin Tod proves that he is a Honky-Tonk star in his own right. (by Brian Rock) Listen and buy the music of Benjamin Tod from AMAZON Visit the Benjamin Tod website for more information The Blog Tags widget will appear here on the published site.
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