Jehovah & Van Gogh – Pony Bradshaw

Pony Bradshaw is one of the more interesting “alternative country” artists out right now, and he recently dropped an outstanding new album Thus Spoke The Fool, although I am choosing to feature songs from his 2019 debut album Sudden Opera. Thus Spoke The Fool is a killer “traditional” country album through and through, whereas Sudden Opera leans heavily towards the “alt” country vein. I think you could even make the argument that you could drop the country part and just call it an alternative album, but I’ll leave the country part in due to the tastefulness of featuring a pedal steel on many of the songs.

Both “Van Gogh” and “Jehovah” feature some of my favorite lyrics of all time, with Pony describing “Van Gogh” as “part dream, part fiction” (whatever the hell that means). I would encourage y’all to check out the lyrics on your own, as I don’t think there is any single interpretation. For me, “Van Gogh” is an expression of Pony’s desires, or maybe how he views himself, perhaps even how he wants others to view him. I think he very much fits into the “tortured artist” vibe, especially on Sudden Opera. I don’t really have a “favorite” verse from this song because of how great the lyrics are, but I do love how he ends the song.

I drink the blues with my bourbon
Jimmy Reed’s a sermon
“Little Rain” a-thundering
I stood up and started singing
I got all this feeling
I’m swinging from the ceiling

Similar to “Van Gogh,” I think “Jehovah” features lyrics that are open to interpretation. I believe that both songs are from a reflective point of view, but “Jehovah” more so than the former. It seems to take on a much more ruminative feel. Among other things, I take the lyrics as being about Pony facing a crisis of faith. Some of my favorite lyrics ever penned come from this song, with the second verse really taking the cake for me –

We throw paint on the canvas
And call it post-modernistic magic
On my Christ-haunted shoulders
I carry Jehovah like a soldier
Ain’t the past a killer
Just like the “Thrilla in Manila”
All my words are filler
Narcissus in the Mirror

Big kudos to Pony for fitting the word “dilettante” into the chorus as well.

Link to Van Gogh – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5EYAa8Nmuk

Link to Jehovah – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caQwi_qZeOI

Van Gogh live – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDu1GuqsrmM

Can’t find Jehovah live