Benjamin Tod Flippo (born November 11, 1990), is an American singer-songwriter. He is lead singer and guitarist for the Lost Dog Street Band with his wife Ashley Mae (vocals, fiddle) and Jeff Loops (bass). The band has released several albums through

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

platforms, with their album ''Weight of a Trigger'' reaching number five on the ''Billboard'' Bluegrass Albums chart in 2019.

Biography

Early life

Tod grew up in

Cottontown, Tennessee Cottontown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Sumner and Robertson counties, Tennessee, United States. It was named for Capt. Thomas Cotton, a Revolutionary War veteran from North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, ...

. He received his first guitar from his mother at the age of seven, but did not learn how to play until he was given a Fullerton Parlour guitar by a friend's father, at fourteen. The same year, he was expelled from school. Tod began hopping freight trains as a way to see the country.

Lost Dog Street Band

After being part of a music group called Barefoot Surrender, Tod and bandmate Ashley Mae formed the Lost Dog Street Band in 2010, named after their yellow Labrador, Daisy. Tod would do guitar and vocals while Mae would play the fiddle.https://do303.com/events/2019/7/26/lost-dog-street-band Tod and Mae met Nicholas and Shannon Jae Ridout. The two couples formed the street-quartet, Spitshine, and began touring together. In 2013 Nicholas Ridout committed suicide and Tod and Mae rekindled Lost Dog Street Band. The band has crowdfunded multiple album through Indiegogo and

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, as well as self-publishing their music videos on the YouTube channel GemsOnVHS. Lost Dog Street Band toured and released their fifth studio album ''Weight of a Trigger'' in 2019, and in April of that year, the album reached number five on the ''Billboard'' Bluegrass Album chart.

Solo career

In 2017, Tod released the solo album ''I Will Rise'' which was recorded with "two mics and no overdubbing." In early 2019, Tod announced his second solo album, ''A Heart of Gold is Hard to Find'', which was released November 22, 2019. In June 2022, Tod announced his third solo album, ''Songs I Swore I'd Never Sing'', which was released September 23, 2022.

Personal life

Tod met his wife Ashley Mae when they were teenagers. While she was in college he busked and hopped trains to earn money. The couple has a homestead in Kentucky.

Discography

as Lost Dog Street Band

* ''Sick Pup'' (2011) * ''Life's a Dog-gone Shame'' (2013) * ''Homeward Bound'' (2015) * ''Rage and Tragedy'' (2016) * ''Weight of a Trigger'' (2019) * ''The Magnolia Sessions'' (2021) * ''Glory'' (2022)

Solo albums

* ''I Will Rise'' (2017) * ''A Heart of Gold Is Hard to Find'' (2019) * '' Songs I Swore I'd Never Sing'' (2022)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tod, Benjamin Living people People from Sumner County, Tennessee American male singer-songwriters 21st-century American singers 21st-century American guitarists American male guitarists American country guitarists American country singer-songwriters Guitarists from Tennessee Country musicians from Tennessee Singer-songwriters from Tennessee 21st-century American male singers 1990 births