Pony Hunt
“The haunted majesty that stitches together the music of Pony Hunt is enough to keep your mind in wonderment for weeks on end.”
-Jacob Uitti, American Songwriter
Jessie Antonick
Born in California, raised in Chicago, transformed by Oakland and set alight by New Orleans, Jessie Antonick’s heart and hands are continually consumed by her passion for songwriting, building, and creating space—an eternally braided compulsion for crafting and evoking emotion, for creating worlds where one’s spirit can roam free—where a wandering mind can find home.
Antonick discovered a love for music early in life in the live venues and record shops of Chicago. Captivated by doo-wop artists as a child and thrilled by indie and punk rock as a teen, it was her discovery of classic American styles that inspired her to learn to play the guitar.
Longing for the ocean air, she soon settled in Oakland, CA, living on a sailboat whilst building and repairing sails as the push and pull of the tides slowly found their way into her blood, then to the page, and finally to her guitar. The rising and falling pulse of her heart and the chatter of her mind pushed her to create an elegant, transportable canvas cottage where she set in solitude to discover the melodies and rhythms passing through the light and upon the sea air. Antonick soon discovered a new home in her ‘78 Chevy van and she followed the sound of the rushing Mississippi River down to New Orleans where she found herself humbled by cultural beauty and set ablaze with inspiration.
It was in New Orleans where Antonick began writing the upcoming Pony Hunt release VAR! . In VAR! she investigates the heart and mind entangled, looking to understand how to be at home with one’s self, exploring the dualities of mind at play within her journey of emotional connection, societal imposition, gender, lost identities and the lesser understood-- discovered variables amongst the seemingly ever still. VAR! is set to release on July 23, 2021.
Pony Hunt has been featured in American Songwriter, Uncut UK, The Fader, Magnet Magazine, Elmore Magazine, Atwood Magazine, the Vinyl District, Impose Magazine and American Roots UK. Pony Hunt has been listed in American Songwriter’s “top 5 acts to Know” 2020, Uncut Magazine’s “Favourite Albums of 2016” for their debut album Heart Creak, and has featured songs in the Rush Production film “Justine”.
Chela Lujan
Chela Lujan is an artist, activist and mother of Xicana and N’de lineage who has long since made the high-plains of Southern Colorado her home. Lujan spent over a decade writing songs and touring with Pueblo’s own Haunted Windchimes, once deemed “Colorado’s best export since steal,” sharing stages with the likes of Arlo Guthrie, DeVotchka and Pokey LaFarge along with making appearances on A Prairie Home Company and PBS’s Music Voyager. In 2018 after setling into motherhood and homelife where she runs a small batch folk medicine and beadwork business, music called her back to start indie/alternaive band the Hardly Nevers.
There is an overwhelming appeal to Chela Lujan’s material. Her voice has a siren song effect on the listener and brings a hypnotic paean to yearning with a classic air and a ghostly presence.