Stone Poneys

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The Stone Poneys were a Los Angeles folk-rock trio consisting of Bob Kimmel (rhythm guitar), Ken Edwards (lead guitar), and Linda Ronstadt (vocals). Their three albums were produced by Nik Venet, and most of the songs were written by Kimmel and Edwards. The band's misspelled name came from Charlie Patton's "The Stone Pony Blues."

The first album, The Stone Poneys, was released in January 1967 (Ronstadt co-wrote "Wild About My Lovin'").

The Stone Poneys are best known for a song on their second album, Evergreen Vol. 2 (released June 1967), that they didn't write: Mike Nesmith's "Different Drum." Their version is an almost note-for-note recreation of John Herald's vocal with the Greenbriar Boys. It hit the Billboard Magazine pop chart on December 9, 1967 and stayed in the Top 100 for 13 weeks, peaking at #13.

Their third album was titled Linda Ronstadt Stone Poneys and Friends Vol. III (released April 1968), and only her picture was on the cover. It included another Nesmith song, "Some of Shelly's Blues," and ended with the Laura Nyro song, "Stoney End," which turned out to have been aptly named (although the song wasn't written for the Stone Poneys). By then everyone who had heard "Different Drum" knew who Linda Ronstadt was, and she was off on her solo career.

The legendary nightclub that helped launch the career of Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and others, the Stone Poney in Asbury Park, New Jersey was named for this band and was founded in 1974, when Linda Ronstadt's breakout album Heart Like a Wheel was released.