Three friends, 850 miles and time to kill: These ingredients combined to make Toasted Ponies.
At the outset of a twang-ful experiment, bassist Jim Pipher was on his way from Lincoln to Telluride, Colo., headed across the Midwest for a bluegrass festival. To make the long drive bearable, he sang songs in the car with Erin McGovern and Steve Hanson.
Turns out, they happened upon something harmonious.
“Although the three of us had never played together as a trio, on a lark, we decided to enter the band contest, and we ended up with second place,” Pipher said. “We decided, ‘Hmm… maybe we better keep this up.’”
Tonight at 6 p.m., The Toasted Ponies will hit the stage at the Bourbon Theatre, opening for Nashville-based up-and-comers The Grascals.
Although fuzzy logic could lead one to thinking Toasted Ponies has rooting in something Jell-O related, Pipher said the name’s origin was nothing more than nonsensical pairing of sensory inputs. Plus, the trio at Telluride needed something to call themselves, and they needed it right away.
“We had to come up with something spur of the moment,” Pipher said. “There’s a lot of campground picking and stuff like that at festivals, so we were getting very little sleep: That’s where the toasted part came from. And there was this pasture with these beautiful horses: Toasted Ponies is where it ended up.”
Now, some years later, the Toasted Ponies represent a large part of Nebraska’s bluegrass scene along with Omaha’s Southpaw Bluegrass Band. Pipher said that although the number of banjo and mandolin lovers pales in comparison to surrounding states, one member of the Ponies is doing his part to raise awareness.
“Steve, the banjo player, makes his living as a music teacher giving banjo and mandolin lessons,” Pipher said. “I think he’s single-handedly populated Nebraska with bluegrass devotees.”
About the same distance from Lincoln as Telluride, the hometown of headliners The Grascals need not worry about an emaciated bluegrass fanbase. Nashville, Tenn., boasts a tight-knit community of musicians, songwriters and enthusiasts, which lends itself to collaboration.
For The Grascals, it was a certain buxom blonde with a theme park who helped the band rise to prominence.
“We kind of got our start with Dolly Parton,” said Terry Eldredge, lead vocalist and guitarist. “She’s the absolute sweetheart of the world. What you see is what you get. There’s nothing fake about her except for the obvious (laughs).”
Through the connections made by playing at the Grand Ole Opry, and with the help of managers, The Grascals have worked with such names as Charlie Daniels and Hank Williams Jr. What has proved most beneficial, though, has been the relationships formed with local songwriters.
“Our main theme is just to find the best material and record it: stuff that fits us,” Eldredge said. “A lot of times, songwriters will just come up to you and say, ‘Hey, I got a song that’ll fit ya,’ and 75 percent of the time it does, and we’ll record it.”
michaeltodd@dailynebraskan.com
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