JAMES MONTGOMERY
Read about James Montgomery on Wikipedia:
James Montgomery, a unique journey...
Almost every musicologist and certainly every Blues enthusiast is familiar with the transition of Blues from its’ rural roots in the Delta of the deep South to the urban Blues of often industrialized Northern cities. Driven by economic crisis many blacks migrated northward with the promise of jobs in expanding cities like Chicago and Detroit. Among those who were part of this Great Migration were some of the South’s greatest Blues Masters including, among others, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, James Cotton, Jr. Wells, Buddy Guy and Matt Guitar Murphy.
What is often overlooked, is the reverse journey. The journey, or pilgrimage, of a subsequent generation of urban whites back to the Delta to experience first hand the ambience of cities like Clarksdale Mississippi in hopes of connecting with both the visceral and spiritual elements of the Blues that permeate these areas like a God struck slide guitar.
This Journey that started in Detroit in 1949 and culminated at the Crossroads. A journey that finally led to Clarksdale after years Detroit born and raised harp man and his band make their first trip to the Crossroads, to Clarksdale, to Ground Zero, to all the places that had so much meaning for them but they had never seen.
Super-harp blues phenomenon James Montgomery has toured with Aerosmith, The J. Geils Band, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, The Allman Brothers, Steve Miller Band, Johnny Winter Band and has performed on stage with B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Steven Tyler, Brad Whitford, Charlie Daniels, Gregg Allman, LaVern Baker, Patti LaBelle, Jonathan Edwards, Peter Wolf, Elliot Easton (The Cars), Rick Derringer, Ricky Byrd (Joan Jett and the Black Hearts), Barry Goudreau, Fran Sheehan, Sib Hashian, Chad Smith (The Red Hot Chili Peppers), Billy Squier, Michael Carabello (Santana), Duke Robillard, Jon Pousette-Dart, Kate Taylor, Grace Kelly, The Uptown Horns, James Brown, The Rolling Stones and Joe Cocker among many others!
While attending Boston University, where he earned a degree in English literature, Montgomery started the James Montgomery Band. 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. Though he said he loved the academic life when offered a $15,000 job at BU, Mr. Montgomery took a $250,000 offer to record records and tour with the Allman Brothers instead, and never looked back."
EVENT DATE & TIME
James Montgomery
Date: Friday, June 18, 2021
Time: 8:00 PM