Wild Ponies

Alan Dyson of Fairfield House Concerts introduces Wild Ponies.



Doug and Telisha Williams entertain the crowd

The band Wild Ponies, with Doug and Telisha Williams and drummer Jason Winebrenner, was in Shreveport last night.  They kicked off the 2016 Fairfield Studio House Concerts that, fortunately for us, take place in our neighborhood.  When I heard and met the husband-wife duo that comprise Wild Ponies, I felt I had found my people, and to some extent, I had.  Both Doug and Telisha hail from Martinsville, Virginia, but Doug has family roots in Galax, Virginia in the southwestern part of Virginia.  I’m originally from Marion, Virginia, in that same neck of the woods, and I traveled the mountain roads and hollars between Martinsville and Galax for my first job as a social services caseworker in Carroll County, Virginia. 

The name, Wild Ponies, comes from the wild ponies that roam the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area (and are also found on the Virginia/Maryland coast on Chincoteague Island).  My mother worked for the US Forest Service and was the clerk on the Jefferson National Forest when the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area was designated.  She then had responsibilities for both entities.  Doug Williams recounts fond memories of riding horses on Mr. Rogers with his grandfather. 

Doug’s Aunt Patty and her husband now live in Baton Rouge but drove up for the concert.  Patty and her sister, Doug’s mother, now own the family farm in Galax where Doug and Telisha plan to record an album this summer.  When I met Patty, we discussed the long drive between Louisiana and Southwest Virginia.  She commiserated with me about the two speeding tickets I got on my last trip. I felt like I was reconnecting with an old friend rather than chatting with a new acquaintance. 

All this to say, I felt an immediate bond with Wild Ponies who now make their home in east Nashville where they pursue their passion for songwriting and performing.  Doug and Telisha write the vast majority of the songs they perform and record. 

I loved every song Wild Ponies did!  As a writer, I’m into words and telling stories so the roots-folk-rock ballads in the first part of the show resonated with me.   Telisha and Doug don’t shy away from writing and singing about the tough stuff, as in the song The Truth Is.  “The truth is I’m more broken than brave/There are things I think about everyday/Like his footsteps in the hallway.”  Telisha is open in interviews about the childhood sexual abuse she endured and is an advocate for other victims.  Trigger is a song that Telisha introduced as both a lullaby and a song about murder.  Another Chance on their first album deals with addiction and recovery.

Telisha’s song Iris about her grandmother brought tears to my eyes with “I called her Granny/But she never hugged me/She was quiet and she moved slowly/But somehow, I know she loved me/She never told me, I just know.”  But the song also had me smiling as she sang about her grandmother chewing a plug of tobacco and spitting expertly into a can. 

We bought the vinyl of Wild Ponies’ first album, Things That Used to Shine.  The title song lists all the things the Williams cherish  that are “polished smooth by the hands of time.”   Among the things that they sing about is Appalachian folksinger, Hazel Dickens.  I wager I was the only one at the concert who was both familiar with Hazel Dickens AND who owns a CD that features Hazel Dickens singing a coal mining song.

My favorite song of the night, Trouble Looks Good on You, co-written with Amy Speace, is on the album that we bought, but I also had to download the song onto my phone.  It reminds me of meeting my husband!  He might have been trouble but what good trouble it has turned out to be.  To hear the song, click here .

I could go on and on about Wild Ponies.  They have a new album (they offer CDs, vinyls and digital downloads that come with the vinyls) with a more rock ‘n roll sound, and they performed several songs from it. 

In addition to their songwriting skills, Doug and Telisha are talented musicians and sing beautiful harmonies.  Doug plays guitar while Telisha pounds the stand-up bass, and Jason holds down the fort at the drums.  If you get a chance to hear them, meet them, purchase their music, take their Kentucky whiskey distillery tour, DO IT—that’s my advice.