Biography
Roy Montrell ranked among New Orleans’s most in-demand session players and most influential guitarists across more than two decades, working alongside artists that ranged from Bobby Mitchell and Roy Milton to Lloyd Price while holding a long-term spot in Fats Domino’s ensemble. During that period he also tutored a young Mac Rebennack on guitar. Frequently compared to Memphis’s Steve Cropper, Montrell remained so consistently booked for recording dates that, across his entire career, he released just two singles under his own name—one appearing on Specialty as “(Everytime I Hear) That Mellow Saxophone,” the other issued by Minit under the title “Mudd.” His contributions nonetheless extended to hundreds, possibly thousands, of tracks, many of them landmark New Orleans recordings by Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint, Paul Gayten, Art Neville, and others. Live work proved equally relentless; he stayed in steady demand as a touring sideman, most often traveling with established acts. Montrell’s life ended in Amsterdam during a European concert tour.