Jack Montgomery and Watersprite
Gig Seeker Pro

Jack Montgomery and Watersprite

Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States | SELF

Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States | SELF
Band Folk Celtic

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Jack Montgomery-Everywhere I Look"

Traditional folk is as exciting to some as, say, watching paint dry in August. To others, it’s a form that is edifying at its best, at once both common and civilizing. This is particularly true of the folksongs that have stood the test of time, sometimes centuries. The new album by Jack Montgomery, “Everywhere I Look”, takes the style of traditional folk tales -- and often actual folk songs from long ago -- and uses the style to tell in song stories both old and new. Montgomery called it “a musical collage of impressions, observations, yearnings, and aspirations” and said it “reflects my love for folklore and traditional music.”

“Everywhere I Look” is the second independent release from Montgomery. His first CD release in 2002, “Onward to Avalon”, sold over 800 copies. Montgomery is also known as a member of the group Lost River; two of his Lost River bandmates, Susan Morris and Janine Keirnan, appear prominently on this album.

Montgomery performs folk in a very traditional sense of the word, from the trademark folk lilt in his amber vocals to the songs he writes to place alongside traditional tunes like “Hal and Tow” and “John Barleycorn.” Of the 14 tracks on “Everywhere I Look”, Montgomery wrote seven which are musically indistinguishable from the six traditional songs. There is also a cover of Donovan’s “Roots of Oak.”

“Everywhere I Look” was recorded in Bowling Green at High Street Studios and produced by Jack and Lesley Montgomery. The players that join Jack Montgomery on the album are Janine Keirnan (vocals, bass), Susan Morris (vocals, percussion), Molly Kerby (vocals, tin whistle, mandolin, banjo), Graham Hudspeth (lead guitar, bass), Deb Dinkmeyer (keyboards), and Marc Owens (drums). The project was engineered by Owens at High Street Studios and mastered by Eric Wolf Mastering in Nashville.

There is this loose, convivial air about the combining of Montgomery’s vocals with the harmonies of Morris, Keirnan, and Kirby; the mostly acoustic instrumentation also adds to this particular ambiance. Montgomery mixes in some of the contemporary world with the folklore world. “Graduation” observes life from a perspective of middle age and has lines like “Behind facades we find the gods beyond our comprehending/Immersed in sex and Rolodex and energy expending.” The unfortunate timelessness of child mistreatment is addressed in the Montgomery-penned “Little Match Girl.” Hudspeth offers some tasty electric guitar colors and energy on selected tracks.

About the supposed deadly dullness of traditional folk? Montgomery exercises a goodly amount of whimsy in many of the songs. “In Sure and Certain Hope” is a stringing together of standard ministerial handbook phrases that wryly comments on modern religious sentiments. In “Gnostic’s Blues,” Montgomery takes the fall of Gnosticism from favor in early Christian church history and supposes the crestfallen feelings of the Gnostics about their fate. The traditional “John Barleycorn” (no, children of the ‘70s, Traffic did not write this song) falls into this category as well, being a tale of harvest told in a near-warlike fashion of the conquest of the barley, but with the alcohol-laden twist at the end “And little Sir John in the nut brown bowl/Proved the strongest man at last.”

Then there are the songs with some subject matter that would bring howls of complaint to the current FCC were they sung by a Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. The 800-year-old “Gentle Johnny” is a duet that, while containing no expletives, is quite adult in its slow seduction and appeal to “still be my delight” come morning. Ditto for the duet “Maying Song” adapted from a 400-year-old Cornish song that humorously and boldly spells out that conditions are right for coupling.

The wide spectrum of life portrayed on “Everywhere I Look” is a testament to both folklore and Montgomery’s powers of reflection and musical affection. Check your local record outlet for this release, for it is a worthwhile collection of traditional styled music that speaks to those in contemporary times more than one may think.

- The Amplifier


"Music from the Hill: Shadowdancer"

Music from the Hill: Shadowdancer Steps into the Light with Debut CD
by Roxanne Spencer
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 4:07 PM CST

Jack Montgomery and Graham Hudspeth formed the duo Shadowdancer in February 2005. They have performed at a variety of venues, including clubs and folk festivals, in Nashville and Clarksville, Tennessee; Bowling Green, Louisville, and Hopkinsville, Kentucky; and Charleston, South Carolina.

In fact, one of the most popular bands to play at WKU Libraries’ Java City lunchtime concerts is Bowling Green’s very own Shadowdancer! Their sound is focused around original compositions, as well as their interpretations of the traditional music of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Much of the music Shadowdancer performs is from their individual CDs. The material from Jack’s two CDs, Onward to Avalon and Everywhere I Look, and Graham’s debut CD, Yank and a Prod, have blended well in performance. They have received good reviews and sold well both nationally and internationally.

News Flash! Shadowdancer just released their first CD as a duo, Tradition with a Twist.

I interviewed Jack and Graham earlier this month. But before we get to the Q & A, here is some information about Jack and Graham’s musical beginnings:

Jack Montgomery, originally from Columbia, South Carolina, began performing professionally at age thirteen. He moved to Bowling Green in 1998 to work as a librarian at WKU and became a founding member of the well-known local folk band, Lost River, which performed from 2000 to 2005. Jack sings and accompanies himself on guitar, harmonica, and Appalachian dulcimer, while expanding his musical expression to include his interests in folklore and mythology.

Graham Hudspeth, a native of Bowling Green, has been active in the local and regional music scene since he was in his teens. The bands Avian, the Jambodians, Kyle Daniel Band, and Cootie Brown are only a few of the musical organizations to which Graham has contributed. Graham is a talented vocalist and musician, playing guitar, bass, mandolin and Irish bouzouki.

How did you meet and what sparked your musical collaboration?

Jack: I met Graham when he and Dory used to come hear Lost River. Later, as I was beginning the album Everywhere I Look Graham came in as a guest artist and we realized that we were in-sync musically and became friends. When Lost River dissolved in 2005, we were practicing within a week.

Graham: I’ve always been interested in the progression of musicians I previously worked with or knew. So, I met Jack as a result of my association with some of the members of Lost River. The rest is pretty much what Jack mentions.

Tell our readers about the Shadowdancer collaboration over the past couple of years....

Jack: We realized we both liked traditional as well as Celtic music and writing our own material. We began to play some of our arrangements in small clubs and local festivals and it has developed quite naturally from there. We are also about enjoying what we do and about producing a unique and quality music. Neither of us wants to just go along playing the same old songs the way they have always been played which is why we do not do many covers. Creativity is what drives both of us.

Graham: Yeah, What he said. ;o)

Tell me individually about your musical roots - who has been most influential in your own development as musicians and songwriters?

Jack: I grew up listening to country, bluegrass, and gospel music. The first tunes I really remember liking was “Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison in 1964 and “All I Have to Do Is Dream” in 1959 by the Everly Brothers. I would say my main influences are 1960s folk artists like Donovan, Gordon Lightfoot, Sandy Denny, Steeleye Span, and Bob Dylan, as well as The Everly Brothers, the Beatles, Jethro Tull, Jefferson Airplane, and many “ole-time” Celtic and Appalachian artists like Doc Watson, Evan McColl, and Jean Ritchie.

Graham: I would have to say the Beatles sparked my interest in music as they did with many of my generation. Moving into the '70s I was taken with Progressive Rock (Yes, ELP, Pink Floyd, King Crimson). My songwriting was spurred by Avian, the progressive rock band I was a part of from '72 - '76.

How do you go about composing/writing a song? What inspires you?

Jack: Everything, but there is usually what I call a “psychic trigger,” an event, word, or phrase that will plant the seed that will become a song. It can be from life, mythology, fantasies, dreams, nightmares or even literature, like my song “Little Match Girl.”

Graham: Most of my writings have been inspired by events I’ve been a part of or witness to. I tell people the songs just seem to write themselves.

How do you work as Shadowdancer? How do you approach songwriting, arranging, etc.?

Jack: Usually, one of us will bring a song-idea to a practice and we begin to arrange and develop it from there. It is an honest and very open atmosphere of trust that creates musical magic.

Graham: Well this is how I see it, someone brings in the skeleton of a song to rehearsal and together we put the meat on the bones.

Do you use a specific instrument to compose or does the song idea suggest the instrument you use to compose it?

Jack: I write almost exclusively with guitar and Appalachian dulcimer.

Graham: So far, all my writing has been done using guitar with standard or alternate tunings.

Do you play music primarily by ear or by reading and composing more formally?

Jack: I play by ear, though I am becoming more literate with regard to music theory.

Graham: I’m strictly an ear person.

What is your favorite thing about performing?

Jack: When the audience is truly engaged, it is a magic that carries to the musicians.

Graham: Two faves on performing: when you can see that the audience is into the music, and those magic moments when all the musicians are one with the song, making it flow.

Least favorite?

Jack: Smoky bars, half-hearted performances, and equipment failures.

Graham: Least fave? Smoky bars and packing up after the gig.

How do you view your musical growth over the years? What changes have you seen in your own approach to music?

Jack: I am more exacting than I used to be. I think the recording studio experience has helped me understand music in an entirely different way.

Graham: Over the years, my scope has broadened as to types of music I enjoy. I have come to realize that music is a mood and we truly depend on it to bring us up when we’re down and relax us when we need to mellow out.

I find that I’m leaning toward acoustical music and moving into other types of stringed instruments, examples being Irish bouzouki and the upright bass, aka, double bass.

Do you favor any particular type or make of instrument? Tell our readers about the instruments that have been most - um, instrumental! - in your development as musicians.

Jack: I favor my Gretsch six-string, my Breedlove Acoustic Electric 12-string, and my T.K. O’Brien Graduate Mountain Dulcimer.

Graham: Naturally, I’m in my comfort zone with electric guitar, acoustic guitar, or electric bass. I am however enjoying challenging myself with the afore-mentioned instruments. It has helped me to grow and expand as a musician.

I do tend to favor the better-known names in musical instruments but do not limit myself by this. As long as the instrument is well built and its personality complements mine, it really doesn’t mater whose name is on the headstock.

How do you see this generation’s musicians in comparison to your generation’s or what you know of previous generations of composers and musicians?

Jack: Each generation has their own defined sound based on their own life experience and encounters with the music of earlier times. I know quite a bit about previous generations of music and musicians due to my interest in older material and music history. I love to take older, public domain material and give it new life and meaning.

Graham: What I’ve seen in this generation’s musicians - as well as listeners - is an appreciation of many styles of music. I found that in youth I limited myself too much to just one or two genres.

Are there significant differences?

Jack: Yes, but that is a natural process and music today is so varied that you have something for every taste.

Graham: Sure, but I think that’s part of what keeps music alive and growing.

How has technology affected musicians’ development today? How has it affected your own musical work?

Jack: We are in a wonderful period with regard to recording, distribution, and the emergence of independent music via the Internet. You can make a recording in south central Kentucky that is getting airplay in Europe within hours of release. Today, some of the best music being made is from the independent musicians. The big studios have lost their role as sole access points for new music, and that has been very positive for music. I personally feel free to develop and let the audience decide what they like. That is, to me, how it should be. Celtic music is having a renaissance and people are discovering their musical roots. It is a great time to be alive and live in Bowling Green.

Graham: Advancements in technology have made it very affordable for anyone to record their work and the Internet makes it possible to get the music out there. It all has made me very excited about the future.

Clearly, Shadowdancer brings together the unique visions and talents of both band members to their musical collaboration. Their songs are alternatively funny, poignant, pointed, and a just plain rockin’ good tunes. I invite all Amplifier readers to celebrate Bowling Green’s inimitable duo, Shadowdancer. Look for their first collaborative CD, Tradition with a Twist, now in stores in the area. You can find out more about Shadowdancer by visiting their MySpace page at

http://www.myspace.com/shadowdancerjack and http://www.myspace.com/studiocatpublishing

shadowdancer's new songs Misty Moisty Morning and Whiskey in the Jar can be heard on our local music jukebox.

Roxanne Spencer is a bookworm and music lover. She spends her days coordinating the activities and services of Western Kentucky University Libraries’ Educational Resources Center.

- the Amplifier


"Jack Montgomery"

Jack Montgomery
by Don Thomason, http://amplifier.bgdailynews.com
Wednesday, October 17, 2007 12:30 PM CDT

The activity of Jack Montgomery in the Bowling Green area music scene over the last four years has been both visible and behind the scenes. He has performed in the widely known group Lost River, released two solo CD projects that enjoyed good sales and radio airplay, and has begun a duo Shadowdancer with Graham Hudspeth performing Celtic music. In addition to the songwriting and various performing ensembles, Montgomery (a librarian by vocation) is a progenitor of the Southern Kentucky Musical Preservation Project (SKYMAPP) whose aim is to preserve the musical heritage of our area.

The passion for music in Montgomery, a native of South Carolina who has made Bowling Green home since 1998, is evident in the number of hats he wears n songwriter, performer, group member, and preservationist n and the degree of effort he demonstrates. For instance, in discussing the traditional folk songs included on his most recent CD Everywhere I Look, he emphasized his desire to present them “in a new and lively manner from the original” and not “simply strive to replicate the music as you’ve always heard it. If you can’t be creative, what is the point?”

Montgomery started his musical odyssey at age 12 with a guitar received as a Christmas present. Mostly self-taught, he was influenced early on by his mother’s folk records and later smitten by Jefferson Airplane, the Doors, Donovan, and the Byrds as a teen. Montgomery played in several area bands in his hometown Columbia and in Myrtle Beach over an 11 year period, ranging from Cream, Stones, and Hendrix to “a few of my dreadful originals” to a traveling disco show during that genre’s heyday. Shortly afterward, a college friend helped reintroduce Montgomery to old time and folk music; the two of them practiced tunes like “Soldier’s Joy” and “Cold and Frosty Morning” and went to shows by Doc Watson, Mac Weisman, Jimmy Martin, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

A fifteen year musical hiatus followed as Montgomery moved to Virginia, Ohio, and Missouri with his profession as a librarian; Jack didn’t play professionally, although he did play weddings and church events on occasion. In 1998, Montgomery took a position at Western Kentucky University as a librarian responsible for Collection Development, library acquisitions, gifts and the book repair program. The following year, he met Molly Kerby who eventually asked him back up her contemporary Christian group Decades on rhythm guitar. That led to Kerby inviting Montgomery to a one-event group to play for the WKU Women’s Studies annual benefit. “My father had just died and I needed an outlet for the grief, so I agreed,” said Montgomery. That band was Montgomery, Kerby, and Susan Morris (longtime music promoter and formerly with the OutSkirts and Just Us). “The gig went well and we realized we might have something interesting going on” said Mongtomery, so the band Lost River was formed.

The acoustic-based group with strong vocal harmonies became local fixtures at area events, and later added Janine Keirnan to the lineup. Lost River appeared at campus concerts, a biker rally at Lost River Cave, the Bowling Green International Festival, Bell’s Tavern Festival, Horse Cave Heritage Festival, WBKO-TV’s Midday Live, and WKET’s musical program Mixed Media. During this time, former Beat Poets member B. Willie Dryden approached Montgomery about his original songs, which led to the making of Jack’s first CD release Onward to Avalon. The November 2002 release included Susan Morris and Molly Kerby as well as several Nashville musicians. The project was inspired by a visit by Jack and his wife to Glastonbury, the English island known by Arthurian legend as the Isle of Avalon. Onward to Avalon has sold 800 copies worldwide and enjoyed airplay on several college radio and Internet radio stations.

For his second release Everywhere I Look, Montgomery stayed in Bowling Green and recorded at High Street Studio (see a full review in the January 2005 issue of the Amplifier). Morris, Kerby, and Keirnan played on the 14-track release, as did studio owner/drummer Marc Owens and guitarist Graham Hudspeth. “Like the first project, I wanted the music to reflect my interest in folklore and spirituality,” said Montgomery, adding “Also at my age, I just can’t play the hormonally charged songs of my adolescence with much sincerity.” Everywhere I Look mixes traditional British songs of centuries past with originals which stand with the traditional songs; vocal harmonies and smart arrangements are featured attractions.

Lost River disbanded earlier this year. However, Hudspeth and Montgomery became acquainted after the Everywhere I Look recording. They came upon the idea of playing as a duo performing Celtic music and Jack’s originals, and so Shadowdancer was born in April. Shadowdancer has performed in Bowling Green, Louisville, Hopkinsville, and Burns, Tennessee; they have also appeared on WBKO’s Midday Live. Shadowdancer is under contract with Borders Bookstore in Clarksville, Tennessee for a series of upcoming dates in exchange for placing Everywhere I Look in Borders stores. This month, Shadowdancer will play the Bowling Green International Festival, the Bell’s Tavern Festival, and a concert for the Kentucky Library Association in Louisville; in November, they will play a private party in Charleston, South Carolina at the South Carolina Aquarium.

Graham Hudspeth’s wife Dory, a poet and writer, partnered with Montgomery, and with support from other area musicians and Amplifier editor Kim Mason, formed a plan to preserve the musical history of south central Kentucky. From this, SKYMAPP got its origins. Montgomery recalled a tour of the Kentucky Museum’s non-public area years ago where he found a cache of recorded by Bowling Green area musicians, some of which are now famous. “When I inquired about the preservation efforts,” Jack said, “I was informed that little was being done due to lack of funds available for such work.” He also talked of the local popular music scene’s artists past and present, from Joe Marshall to Jane Pearl to current international community musicians, and said “we as a community need to step forward” to preserve this part of the community’s heritage.

SKYMAPP endeavors to document and show the interconnectedness of area artists and highlight those who have excelled. “One of the first things we’ve done is to start to collect personal musical histories by way of a survey we’ve developed,” said Montgomery. Musicians can find the form at the Amplifier’s website, complete it and send to SKYMAPP; from there, a nucleus of information will be formed from which more in-depth interviews can be planned. The Kentucky Museum will be the repository.

Montgomery has made a significant imprint on the local music scene both as a musician and as a supporter. He also has a fondness for the area. “Living and working in Bowling Green has been a godsend for me,” he raved. “The people of Bowling Green are the real treasure . . . Musically, we have such an incredible array of talent and yet none of the competitive viciousness that you see in the big city music scenes. I hope that as long as God allows, I can work, live and make music here. I also want to be a part of the effort to preserve the unique musical heritage that is part of the spirit of Bowling Green, Kentucky.”

- The Amplifier


Discography

"Onward to Avalon" was released in November 2002. So far, it has sold over 1,500 copies worldwide. "Everywhere I Look" was released in December 2004 and has sold over 1,200 copies worldwide through CDBABY and other distributors. "Tradition With a Twist" was released in March of 2008 and "Watersprite" was released in June of 2011 and is selling well in both domestic and foreign markets.

.

Photos

Bio

Jack Montgomery: Originally from Columbia, South Carolina, Jack began studying guitar at age thirteen. After playing music as a solo performer and in bands in and around Columbia and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina during the late 1960s and '70s, Jack retired from music in the '80s until he joined the Kentucky folk band Lost River in 2000 until 2005, Shadowdancer from 2005 to 2009, and Watersprite from 2009 to the present. Jack has entertained the troops several times at Fort Campbell, KY, and sung at the famous Charleston, SC Aquarium, as well as at various festivals, coffee houses, and appeared twice on the local television show, Mid-day Live, WBKO Bowling Green. Jack's music has been featured on several college and Internet radio stations, as well as the PBS/KET television show Mixed Media. Jack Montgomery with Watersprite performs regularly in and around Bowling Green, Hopkinsville and Louisville, KY, Nashville and Clarksville, TN, and French Lick, IN. Watersprite has upcoming concerts at such venues as the Bowling Green Public Library, Java City Caf, Greener Groundz Coffee House, Montgomery Bell State Park, TN, and private festivals.

Jack plays guitar, bass, harmonica, banjo and Appalachian dulcimer.

Musical History:

Jack released his first musical CD entitled Onward to Avalon in 2002. Over 1,000 copies of "Onward to Avalon" have been sold worldwide. His second CD, Everywhere I Look, was released in 2004 and is selling well. "Tradition with a Twist" was released in 2008 and has received airplay in the U.S. and U.K. It has sold copies as far away as the Netherlands, Germany and other countries in continental Europe, Japan, and South Africa. In 2011, Jack released "Watersprite" which is named for the band and is selling really as a CD and the songs as singles.

In 2009, Jack formed Watersprite with his wife Lesley, along with Molly Kerby and Sarah Spinks they perform regularly at venues in Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. Jack writes his songs and has a passion for discovering older traditional material and giving it a new musical life.Their sound is focused around Jack's original compositions and arrangements as well as traditional Celtic and Americana music.

Band Members