Songs From The Road Coco Montoya

• 1 I Got A Mind To Travel 05:22
• 2 Hey Senorita 05:45
• 3 Too Much Water 06:10
• 4 The One Who Really Loves You 08:43
• 5 Love Jail 10:34
• 6 Don't Go Making Plans 11:14
• 7 I Wish I Could Be That Strong 07:09
• 8 Fannie Mae 07:45
• 9 I Need Your Love In My Life 07:07
• 10 Good Days, Bad Days 15:40
• 11 I Want It All Back 10:35
• 12 I Won't Beg 07:29
• 13 You'd Think I'd Know Better By Now 08:25
• 14 My Side Of The Fence 08:22
• Total Runtime 02:00:20

Info for Songs From The Road

By now, you’ll doubtless be familiar with Ruf Records’ Songs From The Road concept. In 2014, this latest release sticks to the winning formula, showcasing a classic Coco Montoya show at Seattle’s famous Triple Door venue on August 17, 2012 and August 18, 2013 with producer Jim Gaines taking charge of a mix that’s as potent as the performance.

Alongside Jim Gaines, Coco had a dream-team of compadres flanking him that night in Seattle, with Brant Leeper swirling it up on keys, Nathan Brown holding it down on bass and Rena Beavers driving these 14 songs from the drum throne. For the fans, needless to say, the star of the show was the man at the mic with the iconic upside-down electric guitar, streaking through a solid-gold setlist of originals that left the Washington crowd breathless. Coco has rarely sounded better.

Needless to say, his band work from those early years is exemplary, but in 2014, Songs From The Road mines the material that Coco has written since striking out on his own in the mid-’90s, rocket-fuelling 14 of his best solo songs. From 1995’s Gotta Mind To Travel album, you’ll find a live reading of the grooving title track, alongside the irrepressible Love Jail and the poignant Too Much Water. From 1996’s Ya Think I’d Know Better, there’s the reflective groove of You’d Think I’d Know Better By Now, while from the following year’s Just Let Go, you’ll find stinging finale My Side Of The Fence.

Signing with the Alligator label in the post-millennium, Coco’s solo stock continued to rise, and those albums are also well-represented on Songs From The Road. From 2000’s Suspicion, listen out for the choppy, Stones-flavoured riffing of I Need Your Love In My Life, alongside a tough-but-tender take on I Wish I Could Be That Strong. From 2002’s Can’t Look Back album, there’s the funk-edged I Won’t Beg, while sprinkled through the tracklisting, you’ll also find a hat-trick from 2010’s Ruf debut, I Want It All Back, with the mellow The One Who Really Loves You, the walking blues of Fannie Mae and the sunkissed rhythms of Hey Senorita.

If you dig the studio cuts, then you’ll love these live readings. And if you’re yet to discover the genius of Coco Montoya, Songs From The Road’s cherrypicked setlist is a great place to kick-start your collection.

Coco Montoya, guitar, vocals
Brant Leeper, keyboards, vocals
Rena Beavers, drums, vocals
Nathan Brown, bass

Live recorded at The Triple Door, Seattle, USA

Coco Montoya
Guitar One Magazine calls guitarist/vocalist Coco Montoya “the hottest southpaw in the blues” and raves about his “master touch and killer tone.” The Boston Globe succinctly states that Montoya’s music is “hot, blistering soul.” From his early days as a drummer to his current status as one of the top-drawing guitarists and vocalists on the blues-rock scene, Montoya earned his status through years of hard work and constant touring. It all started with a chance meeting in the mid-1970s with legendary bluesman Albert Collins, who offered Montoya a gig as his drummer. Albert took an immediate liking to Montoya, becoming his mentor and teaching his new protégé the secrets of Collins’ “icy hot” style of blues guitar. Five years later, British blues icon John Mayall happened to catch Montoya at a jam session and was blown away. Mayall recruited him as his guitarist in the legendary Bluesbreakers, and Montoya spent the next 10 years touring non-stop, proving himself to be a world-class guitar master in one of the most renowned blues bands in existence. The rest is History!

Montoya is a self taught guitar slinger who plays with an emotional intensity few string benders possess. Playing left-handed and upside down like Albert King, Montoya learned his guitar techniques from his years with Collins. “I never had a lesson in my life. “I would watch other guitar players to catch what they did. I would wait for that one moment when they would do it, and just stare at them and try and remember where their hand was, where their fingers were.

“People ask, ‘Did you take lessons from Albert?’ It’s more from just hanging out in the hotel rooms. He would grab his guitar and I would pick up one and we’d play I just learned by listening, all by ear. I just play it the way I hear it. He was always saying, ‘Don’t think about it, just feel it.’ He taught me to tap into an inner strength. I don’t know all the licks in the world, but I know the ones I can express happiness or sadness or emotion.”

From 1976 until 1984, Montoya had lost some of the feel for music and worked bartender jobs to survive. In 1984, his second mentor, John Mayall, was celebrating his birthday in a bar where Montoya was performing. Montoya’s from the hip version of “All Your Love” caught Mayall’s ear and Coco was asked to pack his Strat and follow previous Bluesbreaker guitarists Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor in the Bluesbreakers. “I would never be doing what I’m doing now if I hadn’t gotten the phone call from John Mayall.”

After three records with Mayall as a member of the Bluesbreakers, Coco decided in 1993 it was time to take the lessons from his two musical fathers and begin to sculpt a solo career. In the early 1990’s he was signed to Blind Pig Records and released three critically acclaimed discs, Gotta Mind To Travel, Ya Think I’d Know Better, and Just Let Go. In the middle of his Blind Pig days, Coco also received national recognition when he was named the Blues Foundation’s Best New Blue Artist at the 1996 Blues Music Awards.

In 2000, Coco took his music up a notch and signed with Alligator Records, the country’s top blues label. In his seven years with Alligator, Coco released three more outstanding records, Suspicion, Can’t Look Back, and 2007’s Dirty Deal. In 2009, Coco Montoya found a new home in the old world. Germany’s premier blues label, Ruf Records, signed the guitar giant and is poised to bring Coco Montoya’s heart to a world audience. I Want It All Back was the first step in that commitment.

“This is an exciting journey,” said Coco. “To my fans who love my guitar, I say come to me with open ears. The guitar is still there, but it’s not the only voice I have. Listen to me as an artist who is growing and grow with me.” Look for a NEW Live Record to be released on Ruf Records in early 2014.

This album contains no booklet.