Tired Pony

Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol launched Tired Pony in May 2009 as a vehicle for his longstanding interest in country music. Within months the project had expanded from a solo endeavor into a supergroup that included Snow Patrol alum Iain Archer along with his spouse Miriam Kaufmann, producer and multi-instrumentalist Jacknife Lee, Belle & Sebastian percussionist Richard Colburn, auxiliary R.E.M. member Scott McCaughey, and Troy Stewart. Peter Buck came aboard several months afterward, prompting the ensemble to head to Portland in early 2010 to lay down its first album. Completed in a single week, The Place We Ran From included contributions from Zooey Deschanel, M. Ward, and Editors frontman Tom Smith before appearing on record shelves later that year.

The release earned strong approval from listeners, leading the collective to schedule shows throughout the U.K. and the United States. Lightbody reconvened Tired Pony in 2012 to begin work on a follow-up, with the band convening at Jacknife Lee’s home studio in California to capture the songs that became The Ghost of the Mountain. Issued in 2013, the album contained a handful of additional performances, among them those by vocalist Bronagh Gallagher and actress Minnie Driver.