James Montgomery

James Montgomery was born on May 12, 1949 in one of the world’s blues capitals, Detroit, and learned the tricks of his trade from masters like James Cotton, John Lee Hooker and Junior Wells at the legendary Chessmate Club. His father was a public-relations exec at Chrysler, his brother John went on to work in the music industry and his other brother Jeffrey became a LGBT activist. Musically, he considers himself to be a direct descendant of Sonny Boy Williamson via James Cotton. “James was my mentor and my oldest friend in the music industry,” Montgomery says. “He called me ‘son’ and I called him ‘dad.’”

THE COLWELL-WINFIELD BAND, THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND

Montgomery played in his first bands when he was in high school and enrolled at Boston University as an English Literature major after graduation, choosing the city because it was renowned for music. “I enrolled in 1967 largely because of the music scene,” he says. ”I played in two bands in high school, and I knew all the clubs and venues in Boston before I got here.” During his junior year, he joined The Colwell-Winfield Band on harmonica, touring with the group as they headlined at small venues and opened for Janis Joplin and other leading acts.

Though Montgomery loved academic life and was offered a $15,000/year job at BU, he took a $250,000 offer to go on tour with Colwell-Winfield backing The Allman Brothers Band and the group wound up signing with Georgia-based Capricorn Records (the first non-Southern act to do so). “We got signed to Capricorn due in large part to the huge numbers we were doing at shows throughout the Northeast,” he says. “[Capricorn co-founder] Phil Walden saw us out on Long Island and loved the band. Atlantic and Warner Brothers were also interested, but we liked the small label vibe of Capricorn. We got a huge multi-album deal even by today’s standards. Grew up in Detroit, came out of Boston, but somehow we were called ‘Southern rock.’ Go figure.”

THE JAMES MONTGOMERY BAND

In 1970, Montgomery formed The James Montgomery Band and his harp playing, singing, energy, charisma and showmanship resulted in the group gaining a reputation as one of the hottest bands in New England along with Aerosmith and   The J. Geils Band. Their debut album, First Time Out, treated listeners to “Train,” which was a fan favorite and became the #1 song at WBCN, which played the tune every day at noon for well over a year.

Among those who’ve played in the group and used it as a springboard for other musical opportunities are Billy Squier, Peter Malick, Wayne Kramer (MC-5), Jeff Golub (Rod Stewart), Jim McCarty (Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels), Nunzio Signore (Bo Diddley), Jeff Pevar (Ray Charles, Crosby, Stills & Nash), Bobby Chouinard (Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, The Billy Squier Band, Robert Gordon), Jeff Levine (Joe Cocker) and Thom Gimbel (Foreigner). In 2017, the band recorded Live At The Larcom, which proved that Montgomery’s still the most magnificent maestros around even after more than 50 years in the game.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• 2001 – Joins Johnny Winter’s band
• 2002 – Three tracks from his CD Bring It on Home are featured at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City during the hockey games and broadcast to over two billion people worldwide
• 2007 – Recorded the title song for the film Delta Rising: A Blues Documentary with Morgan Freeman narrating and Willie Nelson, Charlie Musselwhite, Mose Allison and other major Delta blues artists including Super Chickan
• 2010 – Plays an impromptu session with Mick Jagger at the New York City studio Trax.
• 2011 – Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) saves the day at a rain-soaked festival in Scituate, Massachusetts by joining Montgomery and his band onstage. Brad Whitford (Aerosmith) and Jon Butcher joined later
• 2011 – B.B. King and Montgomery play together at Zeiterion Performing Arts Center in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
• 2012- Records From Detroit to the Delta with guests James Cotton and Johnny Winter. Brad Whitford and Joey Kramer of Aerosmith also share their talents along with Uptown Horns members Arno Hecht and Chrispin Cioe on saxes and Larry Etkin on trumpet.
• 2012 – Joins The Allman Brothers Band at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston for a rousing rendition of “Statesboro Blues.” Montgomery: “We started touring with The Allman Brothers around 1974; maybe 1973. It wasn’t too long before Gregg and Dickie started asking me to sit in. Being onstage with them was always exciting. They were great guys in every incarnation of the word, and they always came to play. It was a musician’s dream.”
• Touring with The Allman Brothers Band, Aerosmith, The J. Geils Band, Bonnie Raitt, The Steve Miller Band, Bruce Springsteen, The Johnny Winter Band, The Blues Brothers (Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd)
• Performing with B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Charlie Daniels, Gregg Allman, Lavern Baker, Patti LaBelle, Jonathan Edwards, J. Geils, Peter Wolf, Magic Dick and D.K. (The J. Geils Band), Huey Lewis, Kim Wilson (The Fabulous Thunderbirds), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Rick Derringer, Barry Goudreau, Fran Sheehan and Sib Hashian (Boston), Ricky Byrd (Joan Jett and The Blackhearts), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Michael Carabello (Santana), Jon Butcher, Bruce Marshall (The Toy Caldwell Band), Dennis Fly Amero (Orleans), Duke Robillard, Jon Pousette-Dart, Kate Taylor, Alex Taylor, Christine Ohlman and The Uptown Horns

 (by A.J. Wachtel)