5-7 Tod Pronto - Singer/Songwriter, Cartoonist, and Internet Sensation

Waaay back in August of 2018 I was attending a Livingston Taylor songwriting and performing retreat at Boston University. We spent the day working on our songs and performance with Liv, Vance Gilbert and Melissa Ferrick. After dinner we all got our instruments and had an informal song swap in the main meeting room. This was kind of a round robin sort of thing where each of us would play a song and then the next person would play and so on. There was one guy who had been pretty quiet during the workshop, a little standoffish if I’m to be honest. So, I was pretty astonished when it came his turn to play. He pulled out his Martin and sang a great song, well performed. That person is Tod Pronto. I was impressed with Tod and started following his progress as he opened for Liv and Jonathan Edwards and other folk greats. Then, I found his Sunday morning 9am streaming show, Coffee with Tod on YouTube or on Facebook. Then, I found out that he also has a regular cartoon, Midlife Thesis, that is published every week. 

I mean, what can’t he do? 

I’m Tim Rose and this is the Tim Tunes podcast. In this episode we’ll interview dear friend and accomplished singer/songwriter/cartoonist Tod Pronto and listen to three of his songs recorded live during our visit. 

Transcript

Intro

[Intro Theme – Motor]

Waay back in August of 2018 I was attending a Livingston Taylor songwriting and performing retreat at Boston University. We spent the day working on our songs and performance with Liv, Vance Gilbert and Melissa Ferrick. After dinner we all got our instruments and had an informal song swap in the main meeting room. This was kind of a round robin sort of thing where each of us would play a song and then the next person would play and so on. There was one guy who had been pretty quiet during the workshop, a little standoffish if I’m to be honest. So, I was pretty astonished when it came his turn to play. He pulled out his Martin and sang a great song, well performed. That person is Tod Pronto. I was impressed with Tod and started following his progress as he opened for Liv and Jonathan Edwards and other folk greats. Then, I found his Sunday morning streaming show, Coffee with Tod. Then I found out that he also has a regular cartoon, Midlife Thesis, that is published every week.
 
I mean, what can’t he do?

[Pod Lick]

Hi. I’m Tim Rose and this is the Tim Tunes pod cast. In this episode we’ll interview dear friend and accomplished singer/songwriter/cartoonist Tod Pronto and listen to three of his songs recorded live during our visit.

[Podlick – Big D]
 

Welcome

I interviewed Tod on Monday, April 8th 2024. I remember that date because Tod invited us to watch the total solar eclipse from his house. His house was in the path of totality. So, the day started out strangely enough. I was blown away by the eclipse. The sun looked like it was alive. You could see the prominences as little red tendrils as they danced around the surface. I was awestruck.

 Afterwords we retreated to Tod’s office where we conducted the interview. The occasional giggles and laughs in the background are from Tod’s girlfriend, Danielle. 

My original intent was to have this as a kind of a story time song swap, but I wasn’t feeling it. I had forgotten my guitar! I was pretty congested and tired during the interview. 

Anywhoo, Tod gave a great interview and he didn’t need me at all. The songs that he plays here are all done live during the interview, recorded from our lavalier mics and the built-in mics on my Tascam recorder.

So here, live on tape, there is no tape, just audio files, is our conversation with Tod Pronto.

{Play Interview – Welcome}

 [Podlick – 12th and 7th guitar harmonics]

The Tod Pronto Trio consists of Tod on Acoustic Guitar and vocals, Jon Howes on Upright Bass and Micah Carbonneau on Drums, Vocals. When playing as Foozle, the group uses the same lineup with the addition of Jerod Carbonneau on Lead Guitar.

Tod went on to explain the difficulty of booking the trio and then started talking about playing solo and house concerts.

{Interview} 


[Podlick – Jazzy Interlude]

{Interview}

[Podlick – Mrs. Robinson]
 
 {Interview} 
 
[Podlick – Boings]

{Interview}

[Podlick – Crutch]
 

Nashville

[Song- Money and A Suitcase]

We’ve just been listening to Tod’s song Money and a Suitcase written while he lived in Nashville, It was recorded in 2004 at County Q studios in Nashville TN and features Troy Lancaster on Electric Guitar, Dave Pomeroy on Bass, Dan Dugmore on Pedal Steel, Jim "Moose" Brown on Keyboards and Paul Scholten on Drums. It was engineered by PT Houston and produced by Wayne Warner and Tod Pronto

Now let’s listen in as Tod talks more about his time in Nashville.

{Interview}

After Nashville Until Now

[Podlick – Man of Leisure Intro]

In addition to running the tv studio and performing as a singer/songwriter, Tod has published over 200 episodes of his Sunday morning internet stream Coffee with Tod, let’s hear what he has to say about it.

{Interview}

Live Songs Intro

[Podlick – Ascending Funk chords]

 So now we come to the live portion of our episode. In this next section Tod will introduce and play 3 of his songs live, or rather live on the day we recorded them. You know what I mean.
 

Outro

So that ends our interview with Tod Pronto, singer/songwriter, internet star, cartoonist and man about town. I hope you’ve enjoyed our conversation. You can check out what’s happening with Tod on Facebook or on todpronto.net. Also, you can check out his cartoons at midlifethesis.net.

Join us again in a few weeks when we feature our conversation with Tret Fure singer/songwriter, teacher and award-winning icon of contemporary folk music. I’ve included a little sample after the Outro if you’d like to hear more. 

If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider making a contribution to me on paypal @rimtoes. That’s r-i-m-t-o-e-s. Any amount is appreciated. If you’d like to be a regular contributor, I invite you to look me up on Patreon.com and become a patron of the show. 

As always, I appreciate each and every one of you. I hope all of you and yours are happy and healthy. Until next time, all my lovin’ I will give to you

And now as promised here is "Freedom" by Tret Fure

[Play-Freedom]