Bonepony

Bonepony is an American rock band, formed in the late 1980s by Scott Johnson and Bryan Ward in the Baltimore, MD area. By all accounts Bonepony began as a hard rock band, similar in style to Aerosmith. The band recorded a demo and toured sporadically. During the early 1990s, Bryan and Scott moved to Nashville, Tennessee and left their fellow bandmates behind. In Nashville, the two met Kenny Mims, and the three of them created a new sound for the band, mixing the acoustic power of Led Zeppelin III with similarly styled folk, bluegrass, and country influences.

In 1994 the band was signed to Capitol Records and released an album entitled "Stomp Revival" in Mid 1995. The band toured with some major acts during 1995-1996, including Bob Seger and Santana. During these touring years the band also featured Jason Dunaway on bass and Mickey Grimm on drums. During early 1996, Kenny Mims left the band and was replaced by former Walk The West fiddle/mandolin player Tramp. The band's relationship with Capitol soured and they split with the label, releasing their second album, "Traveler's Companion" on their own SuperDuperRecordings imprint. Sometime in late 1996, Jason and Mickey left the band, yet Johnson, Ward and Tramp soldiered on as a three piece. "Traveler's Companion" continued with their brand of self-described "Power Folk" music and featured a guest vocal appearance by fellow alt-country pioneer Lucinda Williams. In mid-1999 Bryan Ward exited the fold and the band recruited Nick Nguyen to handle guitar duties. Bonepony continued to tour the US and Canada with a break-neck schedule of 200 plus dates a year.

A live CD was released in late 2000 called "Funhouse" which was followed in 2002 by a collection of early and rare recordings entitled "Rare Cuts". In 2003 the band released their new studio CD "Jubilee" and toured promoting it's grass-roots style. "Jubilee" mixed Johnson's folk and rock roots with Nguyen's polished, Beatle-esque songwriting and was well received by fans and critics alike, charting highly on the Americana charts. In mid 2004, Tramp left the band and long time friend and occasional member Kenny Wright joined the band on a full time basis supplying drums, percussion, guitar and mandolin. With Nguyen and Wright splitting the instrumental duties as well as the addition of bass pedals (masterfully played by Nguyen with his feet) the sound was refined and solidified so that the entire Bonepony canon could be performed live. During the Spring of 2006 the band released their newest CD called "Feeling it", which reached the #1 spot on XM Radio's X Country chart. 2007 has proved to be a busy and exciting year for the band as they continue to tour and record. Their newest release, "Celebration Highway", is a live retrospective recorded and filmed at Nashville's historic Belcourt Theatre. The two-disc set features a live CD with recordings from the show as well as a full-length concert film/documentary on DVD. For more information on the band see www.bonepony.com.