Gig in Santa Cruz

Austin, Texas has produced a ton of musicians over the years with many of the most notable finding a home in my CD player and now my iPod. At the top of my Austin list would be Shawn Colvin, The Arc Angels, Meat Puppets, and Poi Dog Pondering. And I think I might even own some Austin Lounge Lizards, Robert Earl Keen, and maybe even some Joe Ely (at least I’ve heard him play with John Hiatt a couple of times). In the guitar genius realm, Eric Johnson and Stevie Ray Vaughan would rank highly in my personal musical “Austin influenced” catalog.

And now, they’ve all been upped. Last week I was escorted (and smiling the whole way there and back) to a show in Santa Cruz to witness a master of the six string and a burgeoning blues legend, Monte Montgomery.

Actually, “blues” only forces a label on him. That is only a place to start as his style is bit more melodic with elements from other influences. As a singer and song writer his music is polished and I like his lyrics, albeit a bit predictable at times.

The place Monte Montgomery rocks is with his guitar playing. Strapping on and plugging into a seriously beaten up, battered acoustic guitar he commands a fluid, harmonic cascade of notes. One minute he can be floating with more harmonics than thought possible then he kicks into a near metal-guitar attitude with a rhythmic touch to simply rock out with flying fingers.

John McLaughlin, Al Demiola, Paco De Lucia, and even Pat Methany all hold a place in my heart for the way they play the guitar. They are jazz, though. Monte Montgomery holds that same mastery in the rock/blues world.

It should be noted, I was equally impressed with the tight, soft rolls from the drummer and the thumping virtuoso bass playing. His band was worth the show, too.

I'll be looking for more west coast Monte gigs in the near future. And I'll smile all the way there and back again.