Benjamin Tod


Benjamin Tod Flippo, is an American singer-songwriter. He is lead singer and guitarist for the Lost Dog Street Band with his wife Ashley Mae and Jeff Loops. The band has released several albums through crowdfunding 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. At the age of fourteen, he was expelled from school. Tod experienced wanderlust and 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.
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 Kickstarter, 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.

Personal life

In 2008, Tod met Ashley Mae when they were both teenagers, and lived in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.
Ashley went to college in Colorado, and Tod frequently hopped railcars to get across the country to see her.

Discography

as Lost Dog Street Band