Galax pays tribute to the powerful music and rugged landscape of Southwest Virginia, where both Wild Ponies’ members Doug and Telisha Williams were born and raised. There, in mountain towns like Galax, oldtime American music continues to thrive, supported by a community of fiddlers, flat-pickers, and fans. The stripped-back album nods to the band’s history while still pushing forward. Recorded in the shed behind Doug’s old family farm in the Appalachians (steps away from the site where Doug and Telisha were married), Galax returns Wild Ponies to their musical and geographic roots.
Galax’s track list is filled with upright bass, acoustic guitar, twin fiddles, Telecaster, banjo, pedal steel, mandolin, harmonies, gang vocals, and even some stripped-down percussion. Every song was recorded live, never once pausing the process to listen to the performance they’d just captured. It wasn’t until Wild Ponies returned home to Nashville that they finally heard the wild magic documented during those mountaintop sessions.
Bridging the gap between old and new, the album features revered Old-Time players 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 to create a modern masterpiece with traditional folk influences.
UK Tour dates
21/10/2017 The Smokehouse – Ipswich
22/10/2017 Union At The Con Club – Lewes
24/10/2017 The Sound Lounge – London
25/10/2017 Kitchen Garden Café – Birmingham
26/10/2017 Woodend Gallery – Scarborough
27/10/2017 House Concert – High Wycombe
28/10/2017 Gordon Arms – Bedford
29/10/2017 The Square Tower – Portsmouth
30/10/2017 The Greystones – Sheffield
02/11/2017 B-Bar – Plymouth
03/11/2017 Toddington
04/11/2017 Small World Theatre – Cardigan
06/11/2017 The Vaults at The Golden Farm Inn – Cirencester
07/11/2017 The Running Horse – Nottingham
08/11/2017 House Concert – Beverley
09/11/2017 Garstang Unplugged – Garstang
10/11/2017 Friday Cabaret Voltaire – Edinburg
11/11/2017 Victoria Hotel – Menai Bridge
