Bonepony

Bonepony is coming to your town to play their brand of stomp music. What is Stomp music? you may wonder ? Stomp music is a marriage of techno, rave, bluegrass, and rockabilly.

"Stomp music came to fruition while we were recording out first album. Scott recalls. "We would be writing and stomping the beats out on the floor. When we got out to play, there were no wood floors beneath our feet and we felt something was missing. We initially built wooden boxes and we would stomp on those but the resonance off of the boxes was not loud enough when we started playing larger venues." So Bonepony created the stomp shoe. It is literally a shoe that Nick wears. It has a trigger and a pickup (the device that amplifies a guitar) hot glued inside of its heel. When Nick stomps on it goes to a drum brain and makes a loud thumping sound making the audience wonder where the drum kit is.

Bonepony's debut CD, Stomp Revival, was released by Capitol Records (June '95). Soon after, the band leapt on tour with such venerable acts as Crosby, Stills & Nash , Rusted Root, Widespread Panic and Santana. In the summer of '96 they toured with Bob Seger where they played for more than half a million people. "It was incredible to share the stage with a legend," Scott said, "I kept thinking about all the times I had listened to Bob Seger while I was growing up." Bonepony's relationship with Capitol Records was not as memorable and the band left the label while working on their second CD.

The band locked themselves away in a lake house for most of the following winter to record Traveler's Companion (April '99). The record was picked up by Americana radio stations across the country and charted for most of the summer, reaching # 15 on the Gavin chart. For Traveler's Companion Bonepony's touring strategy changed. This time, instead of short opening sets for established bands, they sweat it out on the club circuit, playing a nearly four hour set every night. Bonepony also concentrated on colleges and universities, playing schools close to their hometown Nashville. They played Western Kentucky, The Univ. of Tennessee, and The Univ. of Virginia. Music festivals became a vital showcase for Bonepony and they were asked to perform at Farm Aid, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, and many others. "We just like to play music," said Nick, "Wherever people get together, that's where we want to be."

Bonepony released their latest live CD, Funhouse, on December 31st 2000. Funhouse was recorded primarily in Nashville. Like Traveler's Companion, it was packaged in industrial HEMP. Environmental issues are important to the band, so alternative packaging for their CD was a priority. Says Tramp. "We want to make sure that our music is not contributing to the detriment of the environment. We want to leave as light a footprint as we can," states Tramp.

Bonepony plans to continue touring and recording in 2001, seeing new places and playing their brand of stomp music for people everywhere.

Tramp -	fiddle, mandolin, mandola, fiddle, little bass, dulcimer, jingle bells.
Scott Johnson -	tubano, jun jun, shakers, harmonica, stomp board.
Nicolas Nguyen -	open tune acoustic & slide electric guitars, stratocaster, bass, stomp shoe.