Music at the Pony Bar

End of the road tunes

MUSIC AT THE PONY BAR

By HANNAH KEARSE

To get to the Pony Bar, you have to be going there. The old mining town of Pony, Montana, is not on the way to anywhere. It nestles in a high drainage on the edge of the Tobacco Root Mountains and Madison County. The town’s only bar plays live music most weekends, music that occassionally hums around the abandoned buildings of Broadway Street.

“A scene can’t be built on money,” Kenny Williams said. “It can’t be bought. It just happens.”

Williams and his ex-wife Claudia moved to Willow Creek from Nashville in the ‘80s. They formed a band, Montana Rose, and brought their three children on the road often. But about 30 minutes away from Willow Creek, the Pony Bar became a place where their children’s music career began. Their daughter Tessy Lou Williams overcame her stage fright at the Pony Bar. “I had her start over there,” the former owner of the Pony Bar, Scott Lambert said, pointing in the opposite direction where musicians usually play at the bar.

Tessy Lou and the Shotgun Stars moved to Austin, Texas, where the band was discovered. The country band has performed internationally and released two albums. Tessy Lou also has a solo album, which leans on a shelf above the back bar – Tessy Lou and her guitar illuminated on the dark album cover.

When the coronavirus halted a scheduled European tour and the entertainment industry in general, the Williams returned to Willow Creek to ride out the pandemic among the Montana mountains.

“End of the road bars are a great inspiration for artists,” Kenny said.

PHOTO BY HANNAH KEARSE

jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj Scott Lambert took over the bar in 2002 and brought regular live music to the historic bar. He came from a family of music, but his performance strength was behind the scenes.

“I was blessed, my family played music,” Lambert said. “I couldn’t carry a note in a rain barrel.”

A rolltop piano was brought into the bar. A collection of strings, horns, drums and an array of nontraditional instruments came into the Pony Bar for all to play. Scott booked local musicians to play in the corner – some acclaimed, some passing through, some professional and some only by night. Word of mouth took it from there.

Old men with white beards belly up at the wood bar. Men and women in work jeans twirl their young children on the dance floor. The cowboy boots and wide brim hats authentically transition into the night, as the amateur movers leave the dance floor for the seasoned weekenders. Daylight fades from the front windows and the bar light takes on a neon tint from the surrounding signs, buzzing below the melodies. Neon lettering of beer companies reflect in framed photos clustered on the walls. Local successes in bull riding, snow sledding, big game hunting and beer

Claudia Williams grins with her guitar. PHOTO BY HANNAH KEARSE

Tessy Lou Williams' album cover.

PHOTO COURTESY TESSY LOU AND THE SHOTGUN STARS

Scott Lambert’s daughter-in-law bought the bar in 2019. She began focusing on consistency - consistent live music weekends, consistent range of cold cans, consistent taps with local brews and consistent burgers.

“The best burgers served on a paper plate,” a patron, David Detrick, said.

Robin Cretaenger is the Pony Bar’s cook, serving burgers and fries, the only items on the menu.

“Her brother was the first one to start streaking around here,” Scott said, remembering a 1970s high school basketball game in Three Forks. It seems everyone at the Pony Bar has a claim of fame of their own or is related to one.

Scott can be found most music nights, rotating between a bar stool with a drink and the wooden bench outside with a Marlboro Red cigarette. According to Scott, western legends like Kostas Lazarides and Chris Wall have played at the Pony Bar.

The building was constructed over a hundred years ago housing two businesses on a bustling main street of a mining town. On the other side of Broadway Street, Pony Creek flows to meet North Willow Creek. Ore, rich in gold, was discovered around the two creeks, a short distance north of Pony. The town’s population has fluctuated, since mining camps surrounded it in the 1870s. Its current population hovers near ghost town status at about 100 residents but it has swollen to support several mills and mines, sustaining a public school at one time. The Department of Environmental Quality’s historic description of the town says it once supported a public school and bragged over 500 residents.

Today, Pony’s residents barely outnumber its buildings on the historic register, including Pony Bar’s building. The building was built in 1877 but did not became a bar until about 1933. A shared wall was broken into three areas – two on each side for patron traffic and one for the bartender to serve drinks on either side.

Mining beneath Hollowtop Mountain ceased in the 1930s. The population fluxes with the seasons rather than industry but live music weekends are a constant. Montana Rose regularly brings the family to the microphone.

Snow wilts the limbs of cedars on the other side of Broadway Street as Claudia and her son Luke perform a mixture of original songs and covers on a Sunday night. Kenny watches from a bar stool, after hiking to the top of Hollowtop for the first time.

“People are attracted to this kind of inclusive ambience,” Kenny said.