Authentic Bluegrass: Wild Ponies – “Pretty Bird”
Wild Ponies
“Pretty Bird”
Galax
Named after the beautiful town in Virginia, Galax by Wild Ponies is perfect bluegrass. This album is a beautiful mix of old and new bluegrass, traditional and modern. Look at the guest list on this record: Snake Smith, Kyle Dean Smith, and Kilby Spencer from its namesake, Galax, Virginia–and some of the band’s favorite musicians from Nashville– Fats Kaplin, Will Kimbrough, Neilson Hubbard and Audrey Spillman. This is the music you make on the front porch in Paw Paw, WV, Grayson, KY, Johnson City, TN, and of course, Galax, VA. I love bluegrass. It touches my soul, and no one does it quite as well as Wild Ponies. Doug and Telisha Williams, the main ingredients of Wild Ponies, so to speak, were born and raised in Southwestern Virginia, right in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and you can tell they were born to sing bluegrass. Telisha has one of the best, most emotional, super honest voice. Wild Ponies stand up there with Valerie June and Ashleigh Caudill as representing the Blue Grass revival. Beautiful summer camping music (also, it will warm your winter nights away). Catch them on tour.
US tour:
6/29 – Atlanta, GA – Gospel Gothic6/30 – Arnoldsville, GA – No. 3 Railroad Street7/21-7/23 – Louisville, KY – Wild Ponies’ Kentucky Bourbon Trail Ride7/30 – Aberdeen, NC – Rooster’s Wife8/4 – Galax, VA – Creative Workshop with Wild Ponies’8/19 – Barnhart, MO – Oak Tree Concerts9/28 – Chicago, IL – Fitzgerald’s9/30 – Ann Arbor, MI – Johnny’s Speakeasy
10/2 – Buffalo, NY – Sportsmen’s Tavern
10/3 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Cafe
10/6 – Nashua, NH – Riverwalk
10/7 – Cornish, ME – Friendly River Music
10/10 – Cambridge, MA – Passim
10/11 – NYC – Hill Country Live
10/12 – Washington, DC – Hill Country Live
10/13 – Martinsville, VA – Rives Theatre
10/14 – Richmond, VA – Richmond Folk Fest
European tour:
10/21 Ipswich – The Smokehouse
10/22 Lewes – Union at the Con Club
10/24 Tooting – The Sound Lounge
10/25 Birmingham – Kitchen Garden
10/27 High Wycombe
10/28 Bedford – Ents Shed
10/29 Portsmouth – The Square Tower
10/30 Sheffield – The Greystones
11/2 Plymouth – B-Bar
11/9 Garstang – Garstang Unplugged
11/10 Edinburgh – Cabaret Voltaire
11/11 Menai Bridge – Victoria Hotel
11/15 St. Jooslend NL – Theater de Wegwijzer
11/16 Nijmegen NL – Trianon
11/17 Steenwijk NL – Speelplaats Baars Baars
11/18 Berlin, Germany
11/22 Oldensaal NL – Cobblestone Club
11/23 The Hague NL – Musemix @ Soc. Engels
11/24 Saarbrucken, Germany – Rathaus
11/25 Oberdorff, France – Goetzinger
11/26 Luxembourg – T’Scheier
11/28 Sulzbach, Germany – Salzbrunnenhaus
