Wild Ponies take stirring new album across Sussex

On Saturday, June 25, they are at The Con Club, Lewes; on Sunday, June 26, they are at Crawley Folk & Beer Festival; and then, later in the day on Sunday, they are at East Grinstead’s The Dorset Arms.

Spokesman Geraint Jones waxes lyrical about the new recording: “When you lay every fear and foible, every hurt and healing out for the whole world to see as Wild Ponies did on 2013’s Things That Used to Shine, the album’s follow-up surely can’t be faulted for cutting a little bit loose.

“That’s certainly the case with Radiant, the rough and tumble new release from Wild Ponies, the duo of Doug and Telisha Williams.

“The set bucks and rumbles through 11 songs that pull from all manner of sources – poetic tweens, Catawba trees, homophobic politicians, dying small towns, and tarot cards. The tie that binds them all together is the thread of moments and memories, of cycles and seasons that make up a life well-lived.

“How does one describe those precious moments in life when we are able to transcend our small daily self-interests, and can somehow hold onto those rarefied breaths of the deeper human experience? Radiant explores those moments with alternating delicacy and raucous abandon.

“At times, it’s as though Telisha is sitting right beside you, fingers on your shoulder, whispering in your ear.

“Seconds later it’s hard to believe this full, confidently reckless sound is coming from only four players – Doug and Telisha Williams along with Megan Jane and Fats Kaplin.

“On Radiant, the Wild Ponies community includes songwriters Amy Speace, Sally Barris, Jeff Barbra, Robby Hecht and Amelia White along with the aforementioned tween, Mariah Moore, who Doug and Telisha met through volunteering with the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Words & Music program.

“The pair were so struck by the imagery of the then-12-year-old’s lyrics that they finessed them a bit, until her co-write emerged as the centrepiece – and title track – of Radiant.”

To find out more about the band visit www.wildponies.net.

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