Our next show will be at the Museum of Commerce located in Historic Pensacola on Thursday, June 6, 2019. Doors open at 5:00 p.m. and the show starts promptly at 6:00 p.m. Our featured artists are Wild Ponies, John Common and Jess Denicola, and Abe Partridge.
Tickets are $10 per person and may be purchased online in advance until 2:00 p.m. on the day of the show. You will receive an email confirmation of your purchase and you simply check-in at the door under your name. Tickets may also be purchased at the door if seats are available. Seating is first-come first-served.
Although they're based in Nashville, Wild Ponies have always looked to Southwest Virginia for inspiration. There, in mountain towns like Galax, old-time American music continues to thrive, supported by a community of fiddlers, flat-pickers, and fans.
Growing up, Doug Williams spent hours watching and learning as his grandfather played banjo alongside local musical legends like Snake and Kyle Dean.
Telisha Williams was steeped in the same traditions and grew up playing with and keeping up with the best of the boys. The result is a broad, bold approach to Appalachian music appealing across generations.
Says Telisha, "This Old-Time style will always weave its way through everything we do. It's been there from the start."
John Common spent most of his youth in Pensacola. When he was thirteen years old, Common found his older brother's Epiphone acoustic guitar in a closet and began writing songs. While still in high school, John founded and fronted the psychedelic roots rock band Bunkhouse Jones, making two records and touring the South during school vacations. Later, in Colorado, he founded the very popular and critically acclaimed bands Rainville, and Blinding Flashes of Light.
It was during this period that he met Jess Denicola. The two have been performing together ever since, in between John’s solo gigs and Jess’ commitments to other projects. As a songwriter, John attributes his vision to broken things, including cars, careers, and people.
Abe Partridge grew up in Alabama. He was a grunge-loving child of the 1990s until he had an awakening and by his early twenties, he had completed divinity school and moved to a rural enclave in Kentucky. There was no high-speed internet, no jam-packed cable systems, no clogged FM radio band, nothing but land and hard working people, and music.
Years later, after participating in the Gulf Coast Songwriter Shootout, he was approached by Shawn Byrne, who encouraged Abe to follow him back to Nashville and record in his studio.
The resulting two albums were popular with fans and critics but says Abe, "Playing for people, striking a chord with people, for me that’s what it’s really all about. It’s like with preaching, you need to reach them emotionally, you need to make a connection, to make people feel and believe. That’s always what I’ve wanted to do.”