Tired Pony began life as a doodle in Gary Lightbody’s jotter. During idle moments on Snow Patrol’s year-long tour for A Hundred Million Suns, Gary began writing songs for this imaginary band having earlier in the year hinted at his ambition to form a country band. Forward to January 4th 2010, a cast of characters assembled at Portland’s Type Foundry; from the extended Snow Patrol family there was Troy Stewart, the band’s guitar technician, Iain Archer, long-time Snow Patrol associate and collaborator, Richard Colburn, the renowned drummer with Belle & Sebastian, and producer Garret 'Jacknife' Lee, who brought in Tired Pony’s final two members, Peter Buck from R.E.M. and Scott McCaughey, the Seattle musical polymath who’s been R.E.M.’s full-time auxiliary member since 1994. Tired Pony were joined by a number of guest contributors including M. Ward, his She & Him partner Zooey Deschanel (who sings harmony on "Get On The Road") and Tom Smith of Editors, who sings lead vocal on "The Good Book".