To know and appreciate Tod’s music is to dive deep and understand the gamut of the human condition, for good or ill; to get to know Tod as a flesh and blood human being sitting in front of you is to understand just how rough and tumble his road has been.

Relentlessly traversing Wyoming for the past 15 years has given Laramie-based singer/songwriter Shawn Hess a remarkable collection of country music under his leather belt; every location adds a new layer to his his vintage-tinged, often acoustic sound and deepening a devotion to the age-old charm of physical media, which lingers across his records.