Name: Pony Bradshaw @ The Rialto
Start: 2024-11-14T20:00:00-04:00
Location: Rialto Theatre

Nashville, TN — Acclaimed singer/songwriter Pony Bradshaw announces the release of his forthcoming album Thus Spoke the Fool on August 16th (Soundly Music). Partially recorded in the sanctuary of an old church near Athens, Georgia, Thus Spoke the Fool is a powerful, multi-layered 10-song collection and the final chapter in a trilogy that started with Bradshaw’s critically acclaimed Calico Jim in 2021 and continued with North Georgia Rounder in 2023. Pre-save Thus Spoke the Fool HERE.
As Bradshaw sings in the spirit of Herman Melville’s narrator Ishmael, “They call me ginseng daddy” on the lead track, he invites the listener into the characters and mysteries of his Appalachian homeland. The song is written in the voice of the album’s narrator, “a singing raconteur,” and invokes Bradshaw’s deep appreciation of literature. Listen to “Ginseng Daddy” HERE or via DSPs HERE.
Like his previous two releases, the tracks on Thus Spoke the Fool feel more like immersive experiences than mere songs, serving as odes to the land and language of Appalachia. These lyrical landscapes pay tribute to the region where Bradshaw settled nearly two decades ago. The songs are rich with imagery of mountain laurel and tobacco leaves, transporting listeners to mill towns, American Legion halls, and Mineral Bluff, GA. The songs offer a hybrid, textured sound with hints of bluegrass and Americana, rich with rustic guitar leads, fiddle and pedal steel.
Bradshaw’s 2023 celebrated release North Georgia Rounder earned raves from Rolling Stone, Brooklyn Vegan, No Depression, Holler and more. Bradshaw continues his rich character-driven songwriting on Thus Spoke the Fool, as he depicts the landscapes and people of his beloved North Georgia community.
Bradshaw shares, “My hope is that [my music] brings these small and big ideas forward to share a new perspective,” says Bradshaw. “It’s something I think is important and worthwhile in this strange world. Place, and community, and sticking around seem important. History does, too. Telling the story of North Georgia seems important.”
Catch Pony Bradshaw on tour this summer. Dates are below and more information can be found at ponybradshaw.net.