James Montgomery (born May 12, 1949) is an American blues musician, best known as the lead singer, blues harp player, frontman, and bandleader of The James Montgomery Blues Band (a.k.a. The James Montgomery Band). Montgomery collaborates with many star performers and recording artists.[1] He is also the past President of The New England Blues Society.[2]
Personal life
James Montgomery was born on May 12, 1949, in Detroit, Michigan. He grew up there where his father, John Montgomery, worked for Chrysler as a public relations executive. One of his brothers, John Montgomery, also worked in the music industry before becoming an entrepreneur in the Metro Detroit area. His younger brother, Jeffrey Montgomery, was an LGBT activist, primarily known for being the founding executive director of Triangle Foundation (today Equality Michigan).
Music career
While attending Boston University, where he earned a degree in English literature, Montgomery started the James Montgomery Band. His freshman roommate was Jeff Baxter.[3] During his junior year, he was hired by the Colwell-Winfield Blues Band to play harmonica and tour with Janis Joplin. By the time he graduated from college his band was on the cover of the Boston Phoenix, heralded along with J. Geils and Aerosmith as the city's great contributions to the music world.[citation needed] Though he said "he loved the academic life, when offered a $15,000 job at Boston University, Montgomery instead took a $250,000 offer to record and tour with the Allman Brothers, and never looked back", according to Pamela Marean, Standard-Times correspondent, on September 6, 2007.[4]
In 1970, Montgomery formed The James Montgomery Band. His harmonica playing, singing and energetic stage show led to his band gaining a reputation as one of the hottest bands on the New England music scene. Montgomery was signed by Capricorn Records to a multi-album deal, and released his first album titled First Time Out (1973).[5] The original LP recordings were remastered and released as an Audio CD in October 20, 1998, by Capricorn / Umgd.[6] Track 9 off his first album titled "Train" was a fan favorite and became the number one song on WBCN (FM).[citation needed] They played it every day at noon-time for over a year.[citation needed] In 2011, Montgomery used "Train" as part of his encore at shows.[citation needed]
Montgomery recalls the night he played with Muddy Waters at Paul's Mall in Boston, Massachusetts. "I couldn't believe it. Here I was on stage with Muddy Waters," Montgomery recalls with a smile. "It was such a great feeling".[7]
He had his own syndicated radio show for five years called Backstage With the Blues on these stations:
