DAN MONTGOMERY
Man From Out Of State (Fantastic Yes Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Dan Montgomery's ability to spot people you'd never notice and turn them into characters you can't resist is uncanny. When he turns his attention inward, he's powerfully, sometimes painfully, honest about the life that's produced such a collection of songs. Songs about sexual revolutions lost, opportunities discarded, hopes retained if not fulfilled.

The notes attach each song to a place, tracing Montgomery's path from New Jersey to California, Arizona to Tennessee. His presentation, straightforward guitar behind a strong voice, offer hints that there may have been a little streetsinging along the way and puts Montgomery and his songs front and center, regardless of who might be playing along. He's enlisted a strong supporting cast, though, adding the texture of accordion, violin, keyboards and steel guitar to his own acoustic guitar and harp.

All that's just primer, though, a surface coat to carry Montgomery's stories, and those stories are reason enough to seek this one out and add it to your personal playlist.

Track List:

Long Time Ago * Man From Out Of State * Spinning My Wheels * Need Me * The Seventies * So Naturally * Kitchen Window * That Easy * When I Was A Drunk * Always

[Pick this up at store.milesofmusic.com.]

© 2005 - Shaun Dale