Shows

We are SO excited to be performing at Chill on the Hill this year, we can hardly stand it! Chill is one of the major annual events of Milwaukee’s Bay View Neighborhood Association, and all of us in the band have attended their shows, which are all outdoors at the Humboldt Park Band Shell, at one time or another. (Last year we went to see Dog House Flowers as a group and had a blast.)

Next Tuesday, July 25, our show @Chill gets started at 6 p.m. with Bruce Dean & Then Some opening up. The Cow Ponies are on next (6:30-7:30), followed by WAMI Award winners Devil Met Contention from 7:30 to 9 p.m. When Andy was there at last night’s show in his brand-new Cow Ponies T-shirt, next Tuesday was being billed as “an awesome show of Americana.”

Bring a blanket for the hill, bring something to eat and/or drink, OR support your favorite locals and buy your din-din and bev-of-choice from any one of a number of vendors that will be on hand.

Chill on the Hill is FREE. But bring 10 extra bucks in case you wanna buy one of our brand-new Cow Ponies T-shirts, on sale at the Chill on the Hill booth!  

All right, so what do The Cow Ponies and JP Cyr and The Midnightmen have in common? For starters, Western shirts, Ernest Tubb covers, and pedal steel guitar! When have you ever seen two bands with pedal steel guitars back-to-back in Milwaukee? (Keith’s is a floor model; Bill’s is a console steel.) Doesn’t happen often, friends. Well, this Saturday night you’ll get yer chance, at the fabulous Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 1001 E. Locust in the Riverwest neighborhood of Mil-town. Hillbilly, rockabilly, Western swing, alt country, old country, cow punk…all for a mere 5 bucks at the door. Come catch some fun and raucous live music before big-bad Summerfest swoops down upon the city. Show starts at 8 p.m., with JP and the boys on first until about 9:30, and John and The Cow Ponies on likely ’round 9:45 p.m. for two sets that’ll take us all right up ’til midnight. Can’t wait 2 C ya!  

Almost all of us in the band have pets, and two of us got our beloved cat Indie from the Wisconsin Humane Society about 11 years ago. He’s a Bombay, he’s gorgeous and smart and hilarious, and we couldn’t imagine our lives without him.  

It is for this reason and more that we are a thousand percent thrilled and honored to be performing at The Second Annual Sofie Show, a benefit for the Wisconsin Humane Society and the brainchild of Dan Augustine, a Milwaukee designer who wanted to show props after adopting his beloved dog Sofie there.

The Sofie Show is a gallery show with art pieces for sale (created by artists all over the U.S.!), live music (us!), and beer (Hinterland!). All at the Zizzo Group, at the corner of N. Milwaukee & E. Chicago in the Third Ward neighborhood of Milwaukee. (Actual address for your GPS: 207 N. Milwaukee St.)

Much love to Lisa Ridgely for introducing us to Dan and getting us involved. We’ll be starting at 6 p.m. when The Sofie Show opens, taking a break somewhere around 7:30, then playing on until 9 p.m., when the event ends.

Suggested donation at the door: 5 bucks. Hope 2 C U there!

Read the latest about The Sofie Show on Facebook.

Hey guys! This Saturday night we’re honored to be on the bill with Chris Head & The Honchos as they celebrate the release of their new CD, “Chicken Wire” (see below; great cover). We met Chris and the boys last August at the Gram Parsons 70th Birthday Bash at Linneman’s last August (we sure made a lotta good friends at that show) and were wholeheartedly impressed by their power trio-ness. And Chris’s wardrobe. Man. Come check it out. The Ponies’ll also be showcasing two new songs: one a twangy Beatle-esque original by John, the other our take on a Rodney Crowell 80s classic, both perfect for slow-groove dancing.

Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall is located at 1920 S. 37th Street in Milwaukee. We’ve also booked some new gigs in June and August that we’ll share with you very soon. Love you love you!

We first met the boys of Liar’s Trial, one of Milwaukee’s premier classic- and country rock bands, last August at organizer Will James’s “Gram Parsons 70th Birthday Bash” at Linneman’s in Riverwest. Since then, we’ve stayed in touch via social media and are now coming together at one of Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall’s famous Sunday Matinees. A few of us Cow Ponies experienced our official Sunday Matinees last year when we checked out Americana rock and roll country band The Mosleys, then the 60s Go-Go sound of The Exotics, and it was a BLAST. Turns out that partying on Sunday afternoons in Milwaukee, at least at Kochanski’s (1920 S. 37th St.), definitely rivals going out on the town on Friday and Saturday nights. Our show on Sunday, Feb. 26 starts at 2 p.m. and ends at 6. In between we’ll be doing alternating sets, starting with Liar’s Trial at 2 then The Cow Ponies at 3. Hope 2 C U there!

P.S. Liar’s Trial will have swag for sale. (Alas, our first CD is not yet ready. But soon.)    

We had the good fortune to first meet up with Alex Ballard & Sugarfoot this past January when we performed together at Club Girabaldi in Bay View at the invitation of Doghouse Flowers. Three country bands – three very different country bands – on the same bill, in the middle of winter. Lots of people turned up, it was high-energy, it was wonderful. And it was only our second gig.

This past August, we and Alex & The Boys and Doghouse Flowers were together again, this time as three of seven bands playing the Milwaukee edition of the Gram Parsons 70th Birthday Bash at Linneman’s in Riverwest. On November 5, Alex, Jeff H., and Jeff J., along with Chrissy Dzioba of The WhiskeyBelles and Michael De Vogel traveled down to Nashville to perform at that city’s iteration of the traveling show.

Tonight, we’re happy to be performing together again with Alex Ballard & Sugarfoot at Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall, where we’ll be doing alternating sets starting at 9 p.m. The Cow Ponies are up first, then Alex Ballard & Sugarfoot, then we’ll do it all again. Wash, rinse, repeat. Come join us for a special night with what Shepherd Express called the  two “wildest” bands at the Gram Parson 70th Birthday Bash!

When we were asked to be a part of Cosmic American Productions’ 9th Annual Gram Parsons Birthday Bash, we were like, “Are you sure? We’re so rowdy.”

Nicknamed the “Heartland Show,” the Linneman’s leg of the traveling one-night festival celebrates Gram Parsons and his far-reaching influence on country music (and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones), with the ultimate goal of getting Parsons inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. One of Rolling Stone Magazine’s “Most Important Artists of All Time,” Parsons died in 1973 at the age of 26. This November would have been his 70th birthday.

After Will James, organizer of the Birthday Bash, told us “You’re in,” one thing led to another, and here we are, one rehearsal away from headlining the show this Saturday night at Linneman’s River West Inn on Locust Ave., 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Seven country-influenced bands from Chicago and Milwaukee will each play 40-minute sets, including some Parsons’ songs and their own original material. The Cow Ponies’ set starts at midnight.

Two of the Milwaukee bands that will also be there are Doghouse Flowers and Alex Ballard & Sugarfoot, with whom we played in one hella-stellar show back in January.

Admission at the door is $10. That’s a buck-forty-three per band. Yeah. We’ll see ya there.

Last weekend, our drummer Andy played at DEVOtional, the annual two-day tribute to Devo at Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, with his other band, dear friends Xposed 4Heads. When you see him, ask him about it. They killed it.

If you’re part of the old Milwaukee music scene – and even if you’re not – you’ll love this show, a more-than-friendly face-off between John Graham of the Rock-A-Dials slash Tom T of Those X-Cleavers, and Bobby Steele of Tense Experts: three guys whose bands were highly influential in the 80s scene, who have been making music all along since that magical time in Mil-town’s musical history. Check out their newest projects – John and Tom T in The Cow Ponies, and Bobby in his Rockford, IL-based Law & Love. Lotsa mutual respect there. So intriguing that Robin’s long-long-long-time besties are drivin’ over from Cleveland (OH, not WI) to check it out. You should too.

 

TONIGHT IN BAY VIEW, WISCONSIN! With Kerosene Stars outta Chicago and Certain Stars outta Milwaukee. The Cow Ponies kick things off from 10 to 10:45 p.m. Kerosene Stars are on 11-11:45 p.m., with Certain Stars closing up at midnight. It’s our first time at Frank’s, and we’re psyched for a great night of kick-ass rock and alt country!

Fresh off our live performance on WMSE 91.7 FM’s Local/Live!