Buoyed by veteran guitarist Austin de Lone, local songwriter Winston Montgomery returns with his latest album, "Mozart on the Road". Montgomery's last album, "Child Is Father To The Man", saw him treading a path worn by the likes of Phil Ochs, John Prine, and Pete Seeger. This time, he heads to the world folks like Ry Cooder, Willie Nelson and augmented by the strings of the Mill Valley Symphony. Not a surprise, for this long time veteran of the Haight and it's musical history. The arrangements on "Mozart", are tight, the playing top-notch and Montgomery's love of the Western melodies of his home-away-from-home New Mexico, are evident in many of the tunes. The title cut even has a "spoken word" bit that only Montgomery could give in his often poignant, sometimes comical, prairie-home way.Born in New York State, an hour’s drive north of New York City, Montgomery made the pilgrimage to San Francisco during the summer after the “Summer of Love” in 1967 and has never left “that cool grey city of love”. Montgomery had been making his living for the last 25 years by renovating houses, among them, many of the multi-hued Victorian edifices that San Francisco is famous for. After a stint of singing lead in a band and writing songs for over 30 years, he finally started writing again, performing his songs solo at a number of open mics throughout San Francisco and playing at clubs with his four piece band, "The Tall Boys". His eponyous CD containing 7 songs, “The Child Is Father To The Man” was his first recording effort in some time. He continues his work with the legendary Austin de Lone, a founding member of Eggs Over Easy, a group often credited with starting the London based “Pub Rock” phenomenon.
Montgomery continues to surprise with a lovely, yet melancholy ballad "Sunset Girl", (perhaps my favorite), and a re-recording of his wonderful homage of the Sixties with "Momma's Tattoo". Listening to tunes like "You Can't take it With You" and "I Can't Stick Around To Take The Fall," has Montgomery really rockin', very different from his folky-er first album. "I Like Lunch" and "Brave Little Billy Brewster" are really pretty country, but very well written. I'm not a country fan, but I'd rather listen to this than 99% of the stuff you hear when you're driving cross country and nothing decent ever seems to comes in. "Mozart on the Road" has that 'don't touch the dial, leave it' quality, part "Prairie Home Companion", part "Austin City Limits", but all Montgomery. That's a good thing.
Montgomery isn't a crooner; you won't get Lyle Lovett or Chris Isaacs. What you will get is a veteran story teller, a "wil-e-coyote" who has sense enough to know he's not going to catch the Road Runner, and smart enough to get some of the best musicians around to help him tell it. Eventually, even the Road Runner will stop and listen. Beep-Beep!
