Tired Pony is a music group consisting of Gary Lightbody, Richard Colburn, Iain Archer, Jacknife Lee, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Troy Stewart. Lightbody formed the group out of his love for country music, and has described the group's music as "country-tinged". The group visited Portland, Oregon in January 2010 to record an album, which is being produced by member Lee. Recording sessions are expected to finish within the month.

Tired Pony was formed by Gary Lightbody (of Snow Patrol), who had a "long-term ambition" of making a country album. He revealed the project's existence in May 2009. In the interview, he expressed his love for country music, which he said he had loved for a long time: "I always thought I had a country album in me and it turns out I did." The rest of Snow Patrol expressed excitement for their band-mate, "delighted that [Lightbody was] getting to exorcise all his crazy ideas." In October 2009, Lightbody in his blog on Snow Patrol's website revealed the members of the group to be Richard Colburn (of Belle & Sebastian), Iain Archer, singer Miriam Kaufmann (Archer's wife), and Jacknife Lee. He talked about two more members whom he was very excited about, but didn't name them. He also stated that the album won't be country as was being reported, but would be "country-tinged". In January 2010, Hot Press reported Peter Buck (of R.E.M.) to be a member of the group. Lightbody described Buck as one of his "all-time heroes" and admired his talent for playing a variety of instruments. Lightbody looks at the project as something he has "wanted to get out of [his] system", and said that "[he doesn't] know whether people will dig it or not." He has expressed doubts about the commercial viability of the group's work, mainly in the United States.

Lightbody had a potential album fully written by May 2009, and had said he only needed to record it. On 13 October 2009, Lightbody debuted a Tired Pony song during Snow Patrol's tour stop in Portland. While playing an acoustic session for radio station KINK, he introduced the song which he said he had written the previous night. He said that the song was "written in Portland, inspired by Portland".

The album The Place We Ran From was released on July 12, 2010, in the United Kingdom and on September 28, 2010, in the United States. Its first single was "Dead American Writers, released one week before the album on vinyl only." It was recorded in only one week on January 2010, in Portland, Oregon, USA. It includes contributions from actress and singer Zooey Deschanel, guitarist M. Ward, and Tom Smith of the indie rock group Editors. Apart from playing on the album, Jacknife Lee is handling album production. The video for "Dead American Writers" stars British actor Joseph Gilgun and was directed by Paul Fraser (a longtime collaborator of Shane Meadows).

Tired Pony played their first live show at London's Forum venue in Kentish Town on July 14, 2010 and were joined on stage by 2009 Mercury Music Prize nominee Lisa Hannigan who stepped in for Zooey Deschanel on the song "Get On The Road". Editors singer Tom Smith also joined the group on stage.

On September 30, 2010, Tired Pony appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, performing "Dead American Writers" from the album. "Get on the road" was also featured on Showtime drama "Shameless" at the end of "Just Like the Pilgrims Intended" episode .



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