Not your typical singer/songwriter, MONTGOMERY DELANEY comes to the Adult Contemporary genre with an extremely unique set of credentials. Born and raised in the South Bronx, he learned how to sing by listening to James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, John Denver, Frank Sinatra, Janis Joplin, Jackson Browne and Carole King to name a few. He spent many youthful nights sitting on Mosholu Parkway with his best friend Brendan Perry (RIP 1989) singing to the Moon...as if the Moon was listening.
After joining the United States Marine Corps at the age of eighteen, he soon found himself walking down the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark, where he saw a guitar in a shop window. He bought it and took it back to his ship. After several weeks of making noise, another Marine named Frank Scott showed him a few chords. That was a long time and almost 400 songs ago.
Since then, he has raised three terrific children, served as a police officer in the 44th Precinct/South Bronx for about 8 years (where he was an active and decorated patrolman), taught and coached at a Catholic High School (where he was part of several baseball championships and a New York State Basketball Championship in 1997), founded the Southsound Coffeehouse in 1990 (where he presented such artists as Aztec Two Step, Martin Sexton, David Buskin, Brooks Williams, Jack Hardy, Sloane Wainright, Cliff Eberhardt, Richard Shindell, Kristina Olsen, Richard Meyer, Donna Martin and many others until 1997), shared the stage over the years with folks such as Martin Sexton, John Prine, Loudon Wainright, Peter Yarrow, Richard Shindell, Jack Hardy, Bill Staines, Greg Greenway, Tom Chapin, Louise Taylor, Terence Martin, David Massengill, Cheryl Wheeler, Iris Dement, Jill Sobule, Sarah Hickman, Patty Larkin, the late, great Dave Van Ronk and many others. He has made several recordings of his music including "23809" (1991), "Walking In The Light" (1997) and his most recent release "Changing Shoes" (2005) and his songs have been included in several different compiliations. Two of them ("I Was Not A Victim I Was A Volunteer" and "I Was A Loner Don't Answer The Phoner"), were selected for the Fast Folk Musical Magazine and are now part of the national archives at The Smithsonion Museum.
In the midst of his musical life, he went to Law School at night while he was a cop, became a practicing trial attorney in White Plains, New York and started his own firm, Laub Delaney,LLP in 2005 (www.justice1.com).
Montgomery draws from all of these experiences to compose songs which are both melodically and lyrically captivating. His 1997 release "Walking In The Light" , produced by Rex Fowler of Aztec Two Step fame, has become widely regarded as a classic in the Adult Contemporary genre. His long awaited 2005 release, "Changing Shoes" has received substantial radio play and critical acclaim. He plans two new releases in 2010.
Please be careful. If you start to listen to Montgomery's music you will have a difficult time removing it from your machine. You have been warned.