Benjamin Tod to Release Covers Album COUNTRY IS DEAD via Thirty Tigers
Producer Andrija Tokic helmed the Nashville sessions at the Bomb Shelter for the twelve-track collection.
Benjamin Tod, frontman of Lost Dog Street Band, is releasing a new covers album, Country Is Dead, out digitally only on September 4th via Thirty Tigers. The album's first single, a version of Jimmie Rodgers' 'Waiting For A Train,' is out now.
'I've been playing this song since I was 14 years old when it was just a vision into what I wanted to experience in life,' says Benjamin Tod of Jimmie Rodgers' classic, 'Waiting For A Train.' 'It turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy shortly after when I spent a decade riding trains coast to coast.'
'I wanted to give a representation of what country songs had impacted me the most in life,' Tod says of the project.
With a pedal steel train whistle imitation and a slinky swagger, Tod and his band kick into 'Waiting For A Train' with a lived-in abandon. 'I have now lived this song a thousand times over, and its position as one of the foundational songs in country music makes that experience all the more special to me to put on a record,' Tod says.
Produced by Andrija Tokic at the Bomb Shelter in Nashville, fiddle and steel flank a phase-shifted Telecaster and a steadfast rhythm section throughout, nailing Tod's trademark, raw delivery. 'I loved reinventing this song in a more 'outlaw' style, and I believe it fits the spirit of this Jimmie Rodgers tune.'
The spirit of re-imagining is at the heart of Country Is Dead. 'My general take on covers is they either need to be done differently, or done better,' says Tod. 'There's a few that are impossible to do either with, but I think we hit that mark on most of this record. I wanted to take on the challenge of making new arrangements, and in some cases, reinventing old standards in completely different ways.'
The twelve songs of this new collection mesh so well together not just because of the sonic revamp each received, but also because they're at the foundation of what makes Tod tick. 'Some of these songs I started playing on the streets of Nashville when I was a teenager, and shaped who I am as a writer and a musician,' Tod says of Country Is Dead's tracklist. 'This was a full-circle kind of moment, and really a means of insight into who I am.'
Benjamin Tod & Lost Dog Street Band resume their tour on October 1st in Cincinnati, Ohio. A full list of tour dates can be found below or at benjamintodmusic.com/tour.
Country Is Dead Tracklist (with the original recording artist)
Waiting For A Train (Jimmie Rodgers)
Hickory Wind (The Byrds)
Natural Thing To Do (Larry Sparks)
Highway 40 Blues (Ricky Skaggs)
Nashville Women (Hank Locklin)
You Take Me For Granted (Merle Haggard)
Some Broken Hearts Never Mend (Don Williams)
Alone And Forsaken (Hank Williams)
Color Of The Blues (George Jones)
Only A Hobo (Bob Dylan)
Ragged Old Truck (Billy Joe Shaver)
Turn This Thing Around (Keith Whitley)
Catch Benjamin Tod & Lost Dog Street Band On Tour
Oct. 1 - Bogart's - Cincinnati, OH
Oct. 2 - Globe Iron - Cleveland, OH
Oct. 3 - Majestic Theatre - Detroit, MI
Oct. 4 - Roxian Theatre - Pittsburgh, PA
Oct. 6 - Anthology - Rochester, NY
Oct. 8 - Higher Ground Ballroom - South Burlington, VT
Oct. 9 - Higher Ground Ballroom - South Burlington, VT
Oct. 10 - State Theatre - Portland, ME
Oct. 11 - Royale - Boston, MA
Oct. 13 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
Oct. 15 - Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA
Oct. 16 - The Howard - Washington, DC
Oct. 17 - Jefferson Theater - Charlottesville, VA
Oct. 18 - Cat's Cradle - Carrboro, NC
Oct. 20 - The Fillmore - Charlotte, NC
Oct. 22 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA
Oct. 23 - The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC
Oct. 24 - The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC
Oct. 25 - The Mill & Mine - Knoxville, TN
Nov. 6 - Charleston Coliseum - Charleston, WV *
* Supporting Charles Wesley Godwin
About Benjamin Tod
Benjamin Tod is the lead singer-songwriter and guitarist for the acclaimed Lost Dog Street Band. His latest full-length release, Vengeance and Grace, is a dual-sided LP that represents the full range of Tod's capabilities: restraint on one side, force on the other. Tod's writing on Vengeance and Grace speaks to mind, body, and soul, shaped by faith, discipline, a hard-earned understanding of consequence, and the life he's built around it, all rooted in traditional country and folk music. Released on Thirty Tigers in April of 2026, the album received praise from People, No Depression, Holler., Whiskey Riff, and American Songwriter.
Out September 4, 2026, Country Is Dead marks Tod's second full-length release this year. Available digitally only, the record includes 12 covers of classic country songs, uniquely arranged and sung from Tod's perspective–from Jimmie Rodgers to Hank Williams. Throughout 2026, Tod is touring the albums across the United States with Lost Dog Street Band.
