Winston Montgomery was born in NYC but has been making his living renovating houses in San Francisco for 25 years.
He sang lead in a band 30 years ago he has only recently returned to writing and performing again.
This seven song ep therefore marks his recording debut. Better late than never.
He writes and sings all the songs with the exception of 'A Married Man' where lead vocals are by Allegra Broughton for a Patsy Cline style tale of a frustrated mistress.
Montgomery is clearly no slave to fashion as the sound has a strong sixties flavour. The nostalgia tinged 'Rock'N'Roll Boy' lists role models of British bands from that era - The Kinks, The Beatles and The Dave Clark Five.
As a child of the 'Summer Of Love' you have to assume (hope) that the gung-ho line about "fighting freedom's fight/singing freedom's song" in 'Fallujah Skies' is meant to be taken at face value. Even so, the bouncy Litlle Deuce Coupe beat, complete with doo-wop backing, is in questionable taste as he sings of rockets creating a "crystal dawn".
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It really sums up the problem with the songs selected here. I was unsure whether I should be treating them as affectionate pastiches or if his aim is to expose harsher truths.
For instance, the track 'Daddy, Why'd You Have To be So Hard?' seems to shatter the veneer of a happy all-American family depicted on the album cover.
It is basically a goodbye and good riddance message to a strict father whose death does not prompt forgiveness or regret ( "I hope the coffin's double lined").
So while on the one hand the songs suggest autobiographical elements, there is also more than a little ambiguity about the songwriter's true intentions.
It's not a positive thing because, ultimately, it leaves you wondering if he wants to tell it like it is or whether he's just taking the piss.
7 t - 30.37m
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