NYS Music 202​2

Tag: Country Music

  • Mary Lamont Queen Of Long Island Country Music

    Canadian transplant and Queen of Long Island Country Music, Mary Lamont took me on a roller coaster ride of an interview recently on The Long Island Sound Podcast. The twists and turns of her entry into the music business is quite a story to behold. A story I would have never imagined that would take us from Anne Murray to Alice Cooper!

    Mary Lamont
    Mary Lamont “Queen of Long Island Country”
    photo by Jim Marchese

    Not only is Mary a fine country crooner and singer/songwriter, but she’s also a fierce advocate of original music as a DJ with her long-running show, Down Home Country, alternate Sundays at noon on WUSB 90.1 FM, the University of Stony Brook radio station.

    That’s part of the fun of being part of WUSB, because there are so many different genres they cover. I mean, anybody can find a show on WUSB, who will be playing the type of music that they like. And you can’t really say that about the other stations and, as you say, the support of local talent.

    Mary Lamont

    Navigating the Music Industry

    Mary found her way into the music industry by happenstance, cutting her teeth in the trenches as a receptionist for Alice Cooper and then progressing through an unofficial apprenticeship with a booking agent, and an industry magazine called Crawdaddy’s. Her early inspiration came from her father.

    But my dad said you can sing. You’re going into the church choir. And my first reaction was No, no, I can’t do that. I can’t do that. And he says yes, you can.

    Mary Lamont

    Coincidence, inspiration, and encouragement collided to move Mary from her comfort zone to become a singer/songwriter. Mary credits her music career to two men in her life, her dad and her Husband, Jim Marchase. Jim is a well-respected photographer in the music business, having once landed a gig as Bruce Springsteen’s photographer on a European tour. He is also the guitarist in the band.

    … my husband has been so for lack of a better pun instrumental in, in putting this band together, in encouraging me to, you know, to be the head of the band, you know, in the guitar work that he does, in the riffs that he plays around the house, that inspire me to write music.

    Mary Lamont

    Mary Lamont’s band has opened for Delbert McClinton, The Marshall Tucker Band and the Charlie Daniel’s Band. She continues to be an ambassador for country music from covers of classic songs to her own catalog of music.

    Opportunities Abound Spreading the Goodwill

    A fateful phone call came to Mary’s husband, in 2002 when a Chinese foundation was seeking the Mary Lamont Band for a goodwill tour of China.

    Mary Lamont Band in China 2002 – Photo by Jim Marchese

    I mean, we’ve gone through Alice Cooper and Bruce Springsteen, and now China wants us to bring the band over!

    Mary Lamont

    Over a two-week period Mary and her band would travel throughout China, covering 23,000 miles from Beijing to the Great Wall.

    China was fantastic, the whole musical tour was like our one “Hard Day’s Night”! The schedule was hectic but exhilarating. Our shows were varied, from large outdoor concert events with thousands of people, as well as beautiful large concert halls such as Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall.

    Jim Marchese

    They say music is the universal language that can heal the world. We sure need ambassadors like Mary Lamont spreading the good news and building bridges between people, cultures with kindness.  Join me for the rest of the conversation with Mary Lamont on The Long Island Sound podcast. 

    During this holiday season, may your generosity of joy inspire everyone you meet, and as always, let the music take you on a journey!

  • Ryan Luce Releases New Illuminating Record “Country House”

    Brooklyn Americana artist Ryan Luce has just released his newest illuminating record titled “Country House.” Ryan Luce explores the subtle nuance of everyday life and studies the inner dramas of fathers, sons, and daughters.

    Brooklyn Americana artist Ryan Luce

    This Americana record was written throughout the pandemic where Ryan found love, lost his backing back, and honed his songwriting abilities. “I had to get back to writing, to what I know is the only thing I’m good at. Those songs became Country House,” stated Luce. 

    “Offers a blend of country-western Americana and Pacific Rock à la Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers to paint energetic narratives with lasting visual effect.” 

    -Rhythm & Boots NYC 
    Brooklyn Americana artist Ryan Luce

    Country House is a ten-song collection filled with heartbreaking lyrics and timeless melodies; Luce certainly pulled from classic country to modern day Americana throughout these releases. 

    “Before the pandemic I was pigeonholing myself in the themes I wrote about. I think I used songwriting as a projection on my own feelings of longing and escape and that limited my abilities,” says Luce. “Writing these songs allowed me to throw away the old ghosts and achieve a caliber of songwriting and production I’d been searching for.”

    Unlike Luce’s 2019 debut EP California Gold, a loose collection of songs from hustling the New York scene, Country House is rather an artifact from his life frozen in time. “I always dreamed of making a record where the songs are from a distinct period, as a time capsule, I could dig up in 20 years and look back on someday.”  

    The world had taken a toll throughout the time of the pandemic, but lots of musicians found a muse throughout being stuck inside. “I think a collective forcefield was blocking artists from creating during the early days of the pandemic including myself.” His band had scattered to the wind as the pandemic began and now, stuck in his apartment, recording plans scrapped, he fought off Covid.  

    The album came together out of the motivation that Luce hadn’t written anything in months. “Something switched on, I had to get back on the horse and start writing songs again. I started playing in different keys and the first song I wrote was the title track.” 

    Listen to more of Country House and to check out more of Ryan Luce, click here.

  • Willie Nelson & Family Come to SummerStage on September 20

    Country-folk artist Willie Nelson will perform at SummerStage this fall with special guest Charley Crockett, on September 20.

    The SummerStage concert will begin at 6:00 pm and the doors open at 5:00 pm at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. All ages are welcome, and tickets are available for purchase now. Willie Nelson is currently on his Outlaw Music Fest tour and will also stop in Bethel on August 13, Darien Center on August 14, and Saratoga Springs on September 18.

    At 89 years old, the country musician has long made a name for himself in the genre. Popular albums include 1973 Shotgun Willie, Red Headed Stranger (1975), and Stardust (1978). Willie Nelson’s most recent album, 2022’s A Beautiful Time, was released on the singer’s 89th birthday this past April and received positive reception. 

    Nelson is also expected to perform at Farm Aid Fest this September alongside other acts such as Chris Stapleton, Sheryl Crow, and Charley Crockett, among others. Nelson currently serves as one of the board members for the festival.

    Willie Nelson is one of many guests who have come to Central Park to perform at the SummerStage Festival. Since 1986, the event has curated acts across multiple genres. Previous performances include pop duo Oh Wonder, jazz legend Roy Haynes, and many more.

    Tickets to see Willie Nelson & Family, and Charley Crockett, at SummerStage are available now at the City Parks Foundation website.

  • Kristian Montgomery Is An Ordinary Guy, It’s His Life That’s Extraordinary

    Kristian Montgomery is a regular guy. Except, the more you fill in the details of his life what should be ordinary starts to become extraordinary. Like a cubist painting, that starts to look less recognizable the more you identify the individual pieces in it, Kristian’s life is at once familiar and wholly his own.

    His career has ups and downs, he goes on trips with his friends. All relatable experiences unless you’re Kristian Montgomery. His job isn’t a boring, nine-to-five. He’s a former metal vocalist turned country singer; whose career highs included being nominated for a Boston Music Award for Country Artist of the Year in 2021. But who’s lows included having to write an album in jail after contacting the judge in his child support case outside of court. And that trip he took with a friend? It was with his bassist and “blood brother,” Roberto Talleria, to his homeland of Managua, Nicaragua to perform on the local version of MTV.

    Kristian Montgomery
    Montgomery in Managua, Nicaragua.

    Montgomery’s own origins have taken him beyond the Boston music scene he came up in. His father is from Denmark which he now considers “home.” His time in Boston was tumultuous, if successful. It was a milieu in which he often felt, if not, overtly excluded, at least, like an odd man out in what he considered “a very upper-class music scene.” Even though he received critical success, in the form of his Boston Music Award nomination, he felt his peers never reciprocated. Which while not the raison d’etre for his art; stung, nonetheless.

    The unique word choice he regularly employs hints at a sensitive person with an affinity for dramatic, verbal pictures. He uses turns of phrase that only an artistic spirit would consider. His relatives from Denmark are “across the sea.” When detailing the emotions of a song dedicated to his wife, he explains that he “throws his love at her.”  He finds everyday experiences inspiring and “has made a living painting those stories into his songs.”

    Ordinarily, such ornamental language, if used in casual conversation, would seem overwrought were it not for the fact that Montgomery is such a poised and deep thinker about art and, specifically, his art. He seems to be constantly reflecting on who his music represents. About the people it will connect with. It is music that is, as he says, “made for people on the Periphery.”

    Now that he’s released a new album, he can say he did just that. Montgomery’s unpretentious, new album, “Heaven for Heretics”, released under the moniker Kristian Montgomery and the Winterkill Band, is a vintage singer-songwriter effort. It’s apparent the music comes from a single creative source, giving the album an unmistakable cohesion. Of course, as with all singer-songwriters if the message doesn’t resonate or the music is flat then listening becomes tedious, repetitive. That isn’t the case here. Montgomery is able to stretch himself to the limits of artistic expanse. He’s able to provide enough variety, both sonic and thematic, to keep the album propulsive.

    From the contemplatively existentialist “Come Carry Weight with Me” to the bouncy country bop “Peach” Montgomery’s unorthodox, appealing voice and trademark mix of country music clichés mixed with profound turns of phrase, all showcase a musician who, if nothing else, cared about making something personal. And that counts for a lot.

  • Raquel and the Wildflowers Release New Single “Freedom”

    Westchester-based country band Raquel and The Wildflowers have release their new single, “Freedom,” on Thursday, February 10, a tune ripe with fiddle, electric guitar and a driving beat.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQGe2Alh4qQ

    The song had previously been performed at the band’s various live shows around both New York state and the country. After requests from fans who had heard the song live the group decided to record the song and release it as a single.

    The cover art for “Freedom” gives the band’s fans the opportunity to customize the single’s corresponding artwork.

    The downloadable file mimics a postcard. With blank space, a “To:” line, and the spot for a postage stamp in the top right corner encourage listeners or prospective doodlers to design a postcard.

    The cover art for the single "Freedom" from Raquel and The Wildflowers

    Raquel and The Wildflowers is a three-person band that features the eponymous Raquel de Souza as lead singer, Cat Lines on fiddle, and Luis Cruz on guitar.

    The band is currently on tour with stops in New York in Monticello at Resorts World Catskills on March 25, Tioga Downs Casino Resort in Nichols on April 8, and Trivia Fest in Elmsford on May 1. They will also be performing at the Country Fest music festival in Cadott Wisconsin with headliners Florida Georgia Line.