Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Billy Montana’s talent for tapping into powerful emotions in the songs that he writes has led to a string of hits and awards for some of country music’s biggest stars.
Montana’s "Number 1" credits include Garth Brooks’ record-breaking single, “More Than A Memory”, Sara Evans’ smash “Suds in the Bucket”, and the Grammy-nominated “Bring On the Rain”, recorded by Jo Dee Messina.
Once an agriculture major at Cornell University who dreamed of owning and operating an apple farm in upstate New York, Montana elected to sow seeds of a different sort in the songs he writes and records. A diverse group of artists have recorded Montana's songs, including Garth Brooks, Sara Evans, Jo Dee Messina, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Blake Shelton, Sister Hazel, BlackHawk, Kenny Rogers, Lee Ann Womack, and Pat Green.
As a recording artist, Montana's album No Yesterday was recognized by USA Today, which characterized him as "a wonderful songwriter." Country Weekly described his music as "a common man's wisdom voiced in an uncommon manner." Montana draws heavily from his rural background for inspiration, resulting in music that is refreshingly eloquent, simple and honest. “You can’t just wait for inspiration…my job is to say things that have been said a million times in a way that they’ve never been said before,” says Montana.
Montana also wrote "Friends for Life" for the animated MGM movie release of the Mark Twain classic Tom Sawyer. Montana’s own records have achieved special distinctions including the single "A Clean Mind and Dirty Hands," which was awarded “Song of the Year” in 1996 by Farm Journal as the song best depicting genuine farm life.
After graduating from Cornell University, Montana supported his wife and three kids by working on a vegetable farm. Although life wasn’t easy, he didn’t give up his dream of songwriting. “When you’re sitting up there on top of the tractor knockin’ down corn stalks, your mind wanders…I got a lot of great song ideas out there on that farm!” says Montana. After seven years of farm work, Montana finally landed a deal with Warner Brothers Records, which “opened the doors to Nashville” for him. Montana moved his family to Nashville in 1989 to pursue the songwriting dream full-time.
Montana caught the attention of five-time Grammy winner and renowned producer Brent Maher and Moraine Music and was signed to a songwriting deal in 1994. In 2000, Montana finally got his big break as a songwriter when Jo Dee Messina recorded “Bring On The Rain”. The song was released as a single on September 10, 2001. The very next day, the events of September 11, 2001 occurred, and "Bring On The Rain" jumped onto the charts as an encouragement to a stunned and reeling country. “The first time I heard 'Rain' on the radio was a few days after the 9/11. I was pulling into our driveway under our American flag. Someone had interwoven the song with sound bites from Ground Zero: news feeds, rescue worker interviews, President Bush addressing the nation - expressing the need for us to keep faith and persevere through the terrible tragedy. To hear the song used in that context was very overwhelming to me. I just broke down,” says Montana.
The Grammy-nominated "Bring on the Rain", recorded by Jo Dee Messina and Tim McGraw, was both a country and AC hit. Jo Dee Messina says, “It’s one of my favorite songs…with hope hidden under layers of trouble…these guys [Montana and Darling] put their guts on a piece of paper and it just hit home for so many people."
Montana scored another hit when he and Jenai wrote Sara Evans’ smash “Suds in the Bucket”, the most performed song by a female artist in 2004. “We were looking to write an up-tempo, traditional sounding story song when writing 'Suds.' The title sort of fell out of the sky,” says Montana. "One of my favorite things about the song, is that we really got inside the heads of our characters. I think we captured their thoughts - their language."
Most recently, Montana showcased his writing skills in Garth Brooks’ record breaking single “More Than a Memory”, which entered the Billboard and R&R charts at Number One. “I don’t think in my lifetime, I will ever be part of something like that again. Everything just had to work perfectly for something like that to happen,” says Montana. Scott Borchetta, President of Big Machine Records said, “This is a song they’ll be playing for the next 20 years.”
