Dopey 607: The Life and Times of a Crust Punk, Anarchist, Country, IV Tweaker -n- Junky Super Star - Benjamin Tod

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Summary:

This week on Dopey! Benjamin Tod of Lost Dog Street Band brings a deeply honest story of childhood trauma, crust punk, freight trains, heroin, methamphetamine, and the slow work of building a different life.

Growing up outside Nashville, Benjamin started drinking as a kid and using hard drugs in his early teens. Drawn to the freedom of traveling musicians, he found a world of street performances, railroad journeys, makeshift camps, and friendships forged under bridges. He takes us inside that life: getting strung out in one city and kicking in the next, withdrawing while waiting for sugar-beet harvest work, and trying to perform through an IV-meth-fueled panic attack while opening for the Devil Makes Three.

Benjamin also gets into what’s happening now—feeling spiritually unsettled, confronting old pain, and wanting to become a better husband and father. He talks about the collapse of his marriage to Ashley, recording I Will Rise in the middle of his darkest period, and the sick puppy named Rita who became a symbol of starting over. On thirteen acres in Kentucky, he began clearing land, rebuilding trust, and making a home. Getting off the needle came first; letting go of alcohol took years longer.

PLUS! Punk rock as folk music, the Clash, outlaw country, faith without rigid dogma, shame without self-destruction, and a round of This or That. Before the interview: a listener writes about dabs and research chemicals, Eric remembers a friend’s disastrous gasoline-bong idea, and Matt Wiedemeyer Carroll celebrates three years sober. Closing with Benjamin’s “Using Again” and an early banjo recording from Jake in West Virginia. 

All that and MUCH MORE on Brand new super anarchist crusty, punk rock, honky tonk episode of that good old Dopey Show!
 

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