CMT Blog: John Michael Montgomery

This week marks the 17th anniversary of John Michael Montgomery's debut single, "Life's a Dance," and it made me stop and think of all the memories I've had with his music. I can still remember the first two CDs I ever bought with my own money. I belonged to a CD club, and I spent hours trying to figure out exactly which ones I wanted to purchase with my own money. Finally, I settled on Montgomery's self-titled album and Alison Krauss' Now That I Found You: A Collection. Even just last year when I was out with a couple of my friends on Lower Broadway, Montgomery jumped onstage for an impromptu set. Later, I shared with him that his was in fact one of the first CDs I ever bought. Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure if he was flattered by this statement or more confused. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites. I'd love to hear some of yours.

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No, I was not one of the lucky 35,000 fans who got to see Alan Jackson perform at Aquapalooza. But I did manage to haul my family up to a little lake in Wisconsin for some of our own water fun, complete with pontoon boats, fishing gear, swimming pools, Coronas, greasy cheeseburgers, arcade rooms and plenty of other nuances that make life occasionally resemble a country song. And this was the digital mix tape I took along for the ride:

"Chattahoochee," Alan Jackson
"Water," Brad Paisley
"Young," Kenny Chesney
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Some 90 minutes before the Nashville Convention Center was set to open this morning for autograph sessions during the CMA Music Festival, the line was already rounding the corner of Commerce Street down Fifth Avenue across the street from the Ryman Auditorium. At least that's what I saw out of the corner of my eye while trying to drive past the horse-drawn carriage that hauls people around downtown Nashville at speeds up to two miles an hour. Simultaneously, I spotted a pickup truck turning around in heavy traffic after the driver realized a little too late that Fifth Avenue is a one-way street. Read more...

If you stumble upon country star John Michael Montgomery in a new infomercial, don't assume he's after Billy Mays' job. He is selling something much better than OxiClean and Mighty Putty. Montgomery is the new pitchman for Time Life's Country Music Explosion. This boxed set of CDs has 160 songs from household names like Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Sugarland, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Craig Morgan, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Then there's Montgomery's own biggies, like "I Can Love You Like That", "I Swear" and "I Love the Way You Love Me." I can't find the price tag for this Explosion on the Time Life Web site yet, but whatever it costs, getting 160 hit country songs has to be worth it.

OK. So maybe John Michael Montgomery didn't make it to the top of Kelly Clarkson's list of musical influences. And maybe he wasn't an integral part of her developmental years as an pop artist. But still. She lists the country crooner's 1995 hit, "I Can Love You Like That," as the song she first slow-danced to. (That would have made her right around 13 years old.) It's in this week's People magazine, on their Soundtrack of My Life page. Clarkson admits she was dreading it. "I slowly turned into more of a romantic, but I was not like that at all when I was a kid," she says. So if that's true that she's more romantic now, maybe when she sings that her life would suck without you, what she really means is that she would give you her heart, be all that you need, show you you're everything that's precious to her. About her actual dance partners back then, Clarkson said, "And poor guys, they're always off beat."

Musicians on Call is on a mission. They are the ones who bring the music to the bedsides of people in the hospital. (If you aren't familiar with M.O.C., watch country artist Mark Wills bringing smiles to the faces of folks at Vanderbilt Medical Center last year. He visited about 12 patients that day, singing with his bittersweet "Don't Laugh at Me.") The organization has made more than 125,000 patients feel a little better with all kinds of music from all kinds of artists. And now they're doing some fundraising, country-style. You can bid on tickets and backstage passes for Rascal Flatts, backstage barbecue experiences with Keith Urban and autographed guitars and such from LeAnn Rimes, Taylor Swift, Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert, John Michael Montgomery and Blake Shelton. Knowing how much joy this program would bring me if I was stuck in the hospital makes it easy to push the bidding up a little higher. Auctions close March 5.

If you want to hear what's possibly the worst cover of John Michael Montgomery's "I Swear," listen to this. It is Big D, who's part of the Big D & Bubba syndicated radio show, and he's out to show that pitch-correction programs like Auto-Tune do not really correct a bad voice. And if you can handle listening to him sing both versions (with and without Auto-Tune), you will hear how right he is. His hypothesis is that you have to have a good voice to begin with if a computer is going to make you better. I'd say he has proven his point without a doubt.

For the past couple months, I've had a one-track mind. I was consumed with listening to all the music from 2008 to come up with my list of the best albums of the year. I even solicited help from readers. And I came up with what I thought was a really strong list of the music I loved all year long.

But then yesterday (Dec. 8), my list was published along with the lists of the music writers I admire most: Chet Flippo, Ed Morris and Craig Shelburne. I knew we'd have some crossover, but for the most part, all of our Top 10 lists are vastly different. So I spent last night and this morning opening my mind to the music they've been loving. Read more...

With Time Flies, John Michael Montgomery offers up a country record that is reminiscent of his work in the early ‘90s. In fact, it's a lot like Life's a Dance with its powerful love songs and a few lighthearted ones sprinkled in to break things up. The lighthearted songs give some texture to the album, and I like "What Did I Do." Others, however, seem like they are trying pretty hard to be funny. I think I like him better as a soulful singer, like on "Let's Get Lost" and "If You Ever Went Away," and there are plenty of songs like that on Time Flies. I won't argue with his steady voice, though. For a limited time, you can listen to all the tracks from John Michael Montgomery's Time Flies for free on CMT.com.

John Michael Montgomery is back and looking very healthy in this reflective video for "If You Ever Went Away." Most of us have at least thought about what life would be like without our boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife and here Montgomery is no different. He contemplates drinking, fishing and hanging with his buddies but knows deep down that he would still feel incomplete. Check out the girl in the video. She may look familiar. That's Amanda Salinas, NBC's Age of Love winner.