Published 2023-10-19 06:00
Winston Montgomery showed his early devotion to rock‘n’roll when he stole a 20 dollar bill from his widowed mother’s pocketbook and bought a 45 rpm single of Buddy Knox’s 1957 number one hit, “Party Doll”.
Winston was born in leafy Westchester County, a commuter train ride north of New York City. After graduating from a small college north of Chicago he made his generation’s nearly obligatory pilgrimage to San Francisco, and ended up living in the 'cool grey city of love' for over 40 years. Some say it was the sex, drugs and rock'n’roll that kept him there.
Paying the bills by renovating houses, among them many of the multi hued Victorian buildings that San Francisco is famous for, Winston kept pursuing his love of writing and music. His first recorded song, “Such a Good Day”, was written with his college roommate, Brien Hopkins, a founding member of the rock group Eggs Over Easy, who are often credited for launching the pub rock movement in the UK at the Talley Ho pub in Kentish Town, North London.
In 2006 Winston recorded the EP “Child Is Father To The Man” in San Francisco, followed in 2008 by “Mozart On The Road”, a full length CD produced by Austin de Lone, a well respected Marin County, California musician and songwriter who also was a founding member of Eggs Over Easy.
Winston’s new album, “Breakfast In Texas”, which contains 12 songs, was recorded at Moonflower Sounds in Taos, New Mexico, where he now lives, apparently following the American counterculture to the bitter end. It was produced by Winston and musician and studio owner, Peter Oviatt, backed up by a talented posse of local players.
These days Winston Montgomery can be found performing or listening to music at one of the many venues in Taos’s burgeoning post covid music scene. He regularly plays at open mics to keep the cobwebs and dust off his acoustic guitar, and to introduce and refine his songs, a number of which have been 'covered' by local musicians. But Winston is happiest working on his music alone in his studio, gazing for inspiration at the mountains and azure sky that surround the Taos Valley.