Monte Montgomery

Guitarist Monte Montgomery emerged as a prominent figure in Austin’s vibrant music community, earning broader notice for his exceptional technical command, seamless overtones, rhythmic drive, and gift for melody. At the 2001 Austin Music Awards during SXSW, he claimed his fourth straight honor as best acoustic guitarist. The material he composed in early 2001 carried forward the narrative focus of his prior records, 1998’s 1st and Repair and 1999’s Mirror, a storytelling approach shaped by repeated listening to Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and Bob Dylan. The 2001 track “Tug of War” explored the push and pull within relationships, while “All on Me” began as a measured ballad before evolving into an expansive guitar showcase. Throughout 2001 he continued touring with his four-piece group—bassist Lonnie Trevino, drummer Phil Bass, and percussionist Mike Urdy—delivering songs rooted in personal episodes or drawn from close observation of others. Although his warm timbre and swift fingerstyle invited comparisons to Mark Knopfler and Bruce Cockburn, his deepest roots remained in the lineage of Texas players B.W. Stevenson, Shake Russell, and Guy Clark, artists he first encountered as a teenager. Wider recognition followed his appearances on PBS programs including Austin City Limits, CD Highway, and Texas Music Cafe. His growing command of melody and rhythm also reflected the influence of pop figures Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, and the Neville Brothers. His path toward guitar prominence began in a small Hill Country settlement outside Fredericksburg, Texas, where his mother, folk-country singer and guitarist Maggie Montgomery of Luckenbach, allowed him to strum while she formed the chords. For a period he lived from the bed of her pickup, performing for tips and working through the early grind of his career. He and his mother regularly attended the Kerrville Folk Festival, where they connected with numerous songwriters. His father, David Montgomery, a choir director, also shaped his development; Monte was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and his father brought him to church services that introduced him to gospel vocalists. Much of his apprenticeship unfolded during the 1980s in San Antonio, where he refined his technique by playing covers in cafés and honky-tonks before commuting to Austin to present his own material and eventually establish himself as a fixture on the local scene. After signing with Heart Music to issue his first two albums, his audience steadily expanded. In 1998 he relocated to Austin. The 2000 release Mirror showcased both the flashy guitar work of “Hopin’ That You’d Slow Down” and the lyrical tenderness of the ballad “Magnolia.” Well into 2001, Montgomery continued to merge the distinct influences of both parents within the layered harmonic exchange between his voice and guitar.