Pony Bradshaw

In a way, it's a bit unfair for Pony Bradshaw to be so far ahead, since it's fairly well-established that listeners need considerable time to appreciate the regional roots and storytelling prowess of one of America's most underappreciated songwriters working today. On the other hand, it's understandable that Bradshaw has moved on given the time it takes from recording an album to releasing it on a label.

Thus Spoke the Fool is Pony Bradshaw's latest album and the third in an unofficial trilogy of works focused on the north Georgia region he calls home. And while the area is rich with inspiration, we caught Bradshaw at a moment when he was clearly ready to discuss something else—and had even forgotten it was release week at all.

But we haven't forgotten. Thus Spoke the Fool is another country gem in a catalog that Bradshaw tells us will be expanding soon. He's ready for new influences and sounds, to mine in new places even if the fans might not come with him. That said, he was engaged enough to tell us a bit about his latest release, what he wants to be talking about instead, and how he views his last trio of albums.

Analogue: You're in California, right? Is that what I'm seeing?

Pony Bradshaw: Yeah, we're in L.A.

Analogue: Is that a place you like to be?

Pony: It's beautiful. The weather's usually cool, but it's really hot right now, so it kind of feels like home, which sucks. So yeah, man, I'll hole up. We'll get an Airbnb, and I don't do much. I've already done so much. I'm 44. I don't need this, and I lived out here when I was young, too, so…

Yeah, I don't sightsee too much. If we stay somewhere in a spot where we can walk around and do things, I'll get out. I like to go eat. Other than that, I'll just read and play music, even in the Airbnbs.

Analogue: Let's start there with what you're reading and how that influences the work. The last time we talked, we talked about The Songlines. We've also talked Faulkner in the past. Is it safe to say there's probably a good amount of literary inspiration in this new set?

Pony: Yeah, well, it's kind of continued. I don't know. I got a little OCD about doing things in threes for some reason, and this last one, Thus Spoke the Fool, is sort of a trilogy, at least thematically, with the other North Georgia records: Calicoand North Georgia Rounder.

You know, I was just thinking about this, that every time I do interviews or podcasts, it's around a new record, and what I'm always wanting to talk about is the next thing. I guess I got to take my chance to talk about what I want to do during the time I'm talking about the thing I'm putting out. But I'm ready to move on.

I know that sounds weird. I’m very proud of everything that's coming out. But I'm ready to move on from this subject. I've got tons of things that I like to write about in different types of music. I mean, it's always going to be sort of like what I do, but it's not going to be Georgia-centric or bluegrass or necessarily country. I really don't know. But those three thematically, they line up together on purpose.

Thus Spoke the Fool, the name of the record, comes from the line in “Hillbilly Possessed” from Calico Jim. So I try to make them all connect in that way, but I'm not reading anything about Georgia or Appalachia. I've already done that years ago, you know what I mean? So that's not like my interests currently. I know that seems odd probably, though.

Analogue: No, that's fine. I never want to get in the way of the conversatiion, so what are your present interests? Like, if you could get out of ‘what I'm supposed to be talking about’ mode and into what you’re on fire about.

Pony: Well, I'm trying to incorporate more in our shows. It's about the shows, that's how we make our living. It's not putting out records. Unfortunately, I wish it was. But that's just a very, very small part of it. The shows are where we make a living. So I focus on that. I try to build set lists that are dramatic and dynamic. I want to use props and stuff like that.

So I've got a flair for the theatric, and sometimes I don't know if they're ready for that because they're hearing the records we're putting out. So I would like to put out a record one day that kind of encapsulates how I'd like a show to be.

Analogue: What do you mean when you say props?

Pony: I’ve got this friend who makes and builds props out of papier mâché and concrete and things like that.

But yeah, I think I come at music and shows in a different way than I'm sure that most people think. I'm not a, I mean, I'm not against it, but I'm not a country kind of dude, even though I live in a rural city. It's hard, it's hard to explain that thing, especially when I write about that kind of stuff, too. Now I'm getting back to a place where I think I know what I want to do and I could make it bigger. And I feel more in control there.

Analogue: Well, it just sounded like you're committed to putting these three albums out, these three that are tied together and then you can move on. Musically, what does that mean? Are you on to other things musically?

Pony: Still going to be, to me, it's going to sound a lot different. Like the chords and the type of music and arrangements we're playing now, there's a lot of bluegrass and country and waltz ballads and stuff like that. It just won't be like that. sbd

Analogue: Yeah, yeah.

Pony: It’s just played in a different way. I mean, I love all that music, but I think that type of music was the vehicle I needed to tell the story that's so rural and based in North Georgia. It needed to be those kinds of chords, that kind of music, that kind of vibe. Maybe no pedal steel in the next one, something like that.

I've got a ton of songs that have nothing to do with North Georgia. We love them. We play some of them live during the show. They just never fit on a record yet, and I'm ready to get to those. I've been patiently waiting, but like I said, I get a little OCD and I feel like I needed to finish out this cycle with a third record.

Analogue: Let me ask you about that right there, what you just said, because you're the one in charge. It's your name on it. You can do whatever you want. Obviously, you know that. And so if your interests are over here in a different place, then what informs this idea of like, no, I'm going to see this through, even though maybe I'd rather be zigging instead of zagging, you know what I'm saying?

Pony: Yeah, I mean, this might sound strange, but I think economically, too. Music these days, they try to turn us into a brand, just letting us freely make what we want to make. And so there's always a little bit of that. You don't want to make anybody that likes what you do now not like it and not come to the shows.

So we've got to finesse it, man. And I'm getting tired of finessing. I just want to do what I want to do.

But I get so many crazy DMs. I had to recently make it so that nobody can message me on Instagram. I'm a little sensitive. And if people have critiques about what songs we're playing and what we're not playing, I just don't like that ease of being able to get into my brain, someone I don't even know.

So it's hard, all these decisions to make what you want to make. And I want to be true to exactly what I want to do. But there's always a little bit of doing stuff for the folks that have supported you. So this one finishes that up, and that's for them. And then I move on to do other things. And then hopefully we have a different type of person that digs what we do, and we just keep building that.

Analogue: Or that maybe people trust you to just follow you in the direction that you want to go, right?

Pony: Yeah, unless they're just, you know, there's a lot of fans out there that just like the one thing, and they get pissed when any of their favorites change at all. And that's going to happen. It's going to happen. I guess it did happen for me, that first record. Then we kind of scaled back to Calico, and that confused people, too.

Analogue: And yet, here you are.

Pony: Yeah, still here.

VISIT: Pony Bradshaw