Americana
Nashville, Tennessee
Returning to the CCV Stage this year are Wild Ponies, a Nashville-based band led by Virginia natives Doug and Telisha Williams. Doug and Telisha hail from Martinsville, Virginia, where boarded-up factories and shop windows serve as painful reminders of the grim economic plight of a small manufacturing town in an era of globalization.
Doug first learned to play music from the elders of his family, hailing from musically-rich Galax, 77 miles west of Martinsville on Route 58. The Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention played a prominent role in Doug’s upbringing; he first appeared onstage in a banjo contest at age five. Besides being fine old-time musicians, Doug’s family wrote many songs, and Doug has emerged as one of the region’s finest songwriters. Telisha learned to sing from her uncle Sammy, who sang with his brothers in a gospel quartet called the Believers.
Together, Doug and Telisha write and perform country, honky-tonk, and Americana music that draws from their experiences growing up in Martinsville and life on the road. Aptly named Wild Ponies, Doug and Telisha have a mystical connection. Sweethearts and bandmates since high school, they have the sort of telepathy that makes both conversations and music come naturally (albeit to the constant bewilderment of their drummers). They finish each other’s thoughts, turning something special held inside into something beautiful, shared with both one another and with their community. They put their own indelible stamp on their music, which is steeped in tradition but infused with vitality, moxie, creativity, and soul.