Bonepony

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 its 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.

Discography

Studio albums

Original Release Date	Album	Label	Additional Information
June 1995	Stomp Revival	Capitol Records	Debut album
May 17, 1999	Traveler's Companion	Super Duper Recordings
June 1, 2002	Rare Cuts (Volume 1)	Super Duper Recordings	Collection of early and rare recordings
June 3, 2003	Jubilee	Super Duper Recordings
Spring 2006	Feeling It	Super Duper Recordings

Live albums

Original Release Date	Album	Label	Additional Information
November 13, 2001	Funhouse	Super Duper Recordings
2007	Celebration Highway	Super Duper Recordings	Combination live CD/DVD retrospective recorded and filmed at Nashville's historic Belcourt Theatre. This 2-disc set features a live CD with recordings from the show as well as a full-length concert film/documentary on DVD.

Band Members

Past

• Bryan Ward - acoustic guitar
• Kenny Mims - Dobro, dulcimer, mandolin, mandola
• Jason Dunaway - bass
• Mickey Grimm - drums, percussion
• Mike "Tramp" Lawing - fiddle, banjo, mandolin

Current

• Scott Johnson - vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion, bass pedals, drums
• Nicolas "Nick" Nguyen - guitar, banjo, mandolin, Dobro, violin, viola, bass pedals, keyboards, vocals
• Kenny Wright - drums & percussion, guitar, mandolin, mandola, dulcimer, stomp board, vocals

Bios

Current Band Members

The following biographical information for each of the three current band members was sourced from the Official Bonepony Website.

Scott Johnson was born Jerry Scott Johnson on October 28, 1966 in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. He began singing when he was a small boy in church with his grandmother and later sang in school with the choir. As a teenager, his favorite bands were The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, as well as, Merle Haggard and George Jones. Johnson began songwriting when he was age 14 and joined his first band in the area after graduating at the age of 18. Frustrated with the limitations of a small town, he moved with some friends to Baltimore, Maryland when he was age 20 and then to Nashville at age 24. Johnson spent two years writing songs with Kenny Mims and Bryan Ward - songs that would become Bonepony's debut album, "Stomp Revival." Scott currently resides in Nashville, TN with his wife and three children.

Nicolas "Nick" Nguyen was born in Montreal, Canada to a French-Canadian mother and Vietnamese father. Nicolas explored music early in his bohemian formative years. Relocating to the United States with his family in the mid-80's, he earned a reputation as a young guitar phenom through constant gigging with local rock bands and high-profile guitar solo contests. In addition to guitar, Nicolas is fluent on violin, mandolin, banjo and piano. He credits his musical influences as The Beatles, Van Halen and violinist and composer Nicolo Paganini. Nguyen currently resides in Nashville with his wife and son.

Kenny Wright was born in a small-town in Alabama, but moved with his family to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of six months, where he still resides with his wife and two children. His father and grandparents were all musicians and he was exposed at an early age to the music of Johnny Cash, Gordon Lightfoot and Merle Haggard. He began playing guitar as a boy and discovered the music of KISS, which inspired him to form his own bands. As a mainstay on the Nashville rock scene he formed and recorded with his bands Scarlet, Prodigal Suns and Social Kings. He has toured with Hotter Than Hell, Tequila Sunrise and Max Vague. Kenny's other musical favorites include Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Queen, Free, Rolling Stones, Nick Drake and The Eagles.

External links

• Official Bonepony Website
• Bonepony Diehard Fan Forum