Benjamin Tod & Lost Dog Street Band with special guest Matt Heckler

Benjamin Tod & Lost Dog Street Band

After dark country trio Lost Dog Street Band released its 2022 album Glory, bandleader Benjamin Tod decided it was time to retire the project. Tod, alongside his wife Ashley Mae (fiddle), had been working together as a band since 2011. “I came to terms with letting go of Lost Dog completely, which is how I evaluate a lot of things in general,” explains Tod. “Oftentimes when I’m trying to make a really hard decision, I go ahead and go through the process of mourning its death and accepting that I am going to lose it.” But just a month after recording a solo project in January of 2023, Tod felt an urge to revisit the project one more time.

“I thought I was done with Lost Dog, but after recording my solo album, I looked over all the songs that I had ready for a new record. These were songs for my band. I had to admit to myself that I wasn’t done with Lost Dog.” That energy is infectious throughout the album, beginning with opener “Brighter Shade.” Guitar melodies interlock with Ashley Mae’s fiddle line, providing plenty of room for a staggering mandolin part and shuffling drums. “Each day I love you more,” Tod croons, singing to his wife. “I could leave but some part of me would stay,” he adds, before concluding, “And only I can love you like I do, and you dare to trade it all for a brighter shade of blue.”

Though there was heartbreak at the prospect of the project coming to an end, its resurrection has meant all the more in this new context. “I definitely felt a good amount of grief and sadness that it was going to come to a close. I resisted, but then I accepted that it was going to come to a close,” explains Ashley Mae. “Seeing it reinvigorated in a completely different spirit and light is very exciting.”

That new direction began in the recording process, when Tod decided to swap out their traditional recording style of overdubbing parts in favor of recording everything live. It was an experience he was introduced to during his solo album, and found the process so successful that it, in part, led to his decision to revive Lost Dog. “We were able to finish the entire album in five days, and it has a remarkable energy to it,” Tod explains. Take the title track, which closes the album. Mournful fiddle and strummed mandolin chords provide an idyllic backdrop for Tod, who sings with an unbridled passion. “Lord, I have survived,” he reflects.

“Benjamin and I, both individually and together, have been through some professionally grinding and demoralizing personal times over the past five years,” Ashley Mae explains. “To take a step back from that over the past year and realize, ‘Wow, we held it down and withstood that, and we survived that,’ was a really good, bright, shining moment. It was the high point during a demoralizing time.” As such, Survived is a saving grace, a phoenix rising from the ashes. “This record means everything,” adds Tod. “It just feels like salvation.”

Matt Heckler

MATT HECKLER is a solo multi-instrumentalist that barely fits into any ordinary musical category. He tends to keep to the darker side of Appalachian mountain music and early bluegrass but listen long enough and you’ll soon be transported to the mountains of Eastern Europe or a dimly lit bar in Ireland where they honor those who have passed with a gently swaying a cappella ballad.

After touring almost nonstop for years in support of bands like Devil Makes Three, Lost Dog Street Band, Flogging Molly, and others, HECKLER, like the rest of us, got sidelined by the ongoing global pandemic. With the newfound time off, he set to pushing creative boundaries in his home recording studio as far as his mind would allow. Each fiddle, banjo, and guitar track carefully put in place all the while retaining the grit and energy reflected in his live shows. Paired perfectly as the sequel to After The Flood, the Blood, Water, Coal album is a defining release in his career.

Blood, Water, Coal was performed and recorded by MATT HECKLER with upright bass and backing vocals provided by Jeff Loops (Lost Dog Street Band). While recording Blood, Water, Coal, MATT HECKLER released The Magnolia Sessions outdoor live set – the maiden release for the now popular series – which made it to #9 on the Bluegrass Billboard Charts. The Magnolia Sessions was still charting upon the release of Blood, Water, Coal, which debuted at #3, leaving HECKLER with two albums running on the Billboard Charts simultaneously.

With the release of his last album, "This Town Is Killin Me", HECKLER signed off on his fourth album with a national tour. Fans filled the venues for a rowdy solo act, and he held true to the grit of his live shows reputation. 

Moving forward, HECKLER has a new album in the works, which he says is his best yet. Keep your ears peeled for future recordings, videos and performances near you.