Family and Music- Grace Montgomery

 For my Music and Family blog I decided to interview my Dad, Michael Montgomery. I always knew that he had a deep love for music but not until this interview did I really realize the impact that it had on his life. Growing up I always went to concerts and festivals with him and I could see the life that live music gave him. I love this assignment and being able to get to learn more about him and to hear directly from him how his love for music evolved and grew. 

One of the earliest memories my Dad had of music was when he was living in the city of Indianapolis. He says that this memory was so long ago that it feels almost dreamlike, he really did not know what he was seeing or experiencing at the time but he was with his mother and sister. He said that he saw a man walking on the other side of the street just simply singing a melody or maybe even playing a harmonica. And that is it, just a small glimpse of the past. This is so interesting to me that something that most people wouldn't have even noticed, a man walking across the street singing, but to him it is considered his first memory of music, I love it. 

At a young age Michael would often hear albums and records playing throughout his house. Artists like Burt Bachrach and the Carpenters would be played on weekends and leisure days. While at his grandmother house, Nana, the Lawrence Welk show would often be playing which was "not cool music but still good music," this was a radio show that played big band stuff.

When he was old enough to start choosing his music, Michael began by buying records. He says at this time he was into "early general rock" or "standard mid 70s rock and roll" like the Police, the Eagles, or Paul McCartney. He said that his parents really did not have much influence on the music he choose. Michael says that the most influential thing that his parents did was let him listen to what ever he wanted to. His parents were semi-conservative but were not stuck on the ideas that Rock and Roll was the "devil music" so they gave him the opportunity to discover what he enjoyed. In his teenage years Michael said that he thinks what he loved most about Rock music was the aggressiveness, he says that the "sound is pretty awesome." 

My dad said that as a kid, while him and his friend would listen to Rock and Roll they would often play air guitar. He said that when he was a child, playing music wasn't really something that he thought regular/ everyday kids did. It wasn't until around his Sophomore year of college when he was introduced to a couple people his age that played music and that was when he thought, "Hey, if they can do this I can too" 

Around this time was when music really started to effect his life. When I asked him if any specific musicians inspired him at this time his response was "oh yeah with out a doubt" 

When he first started college, he said that he listened to mostly popular main stream things like Guns and Roses or Rush. But the more time he spent at school the more his taste changed. As his music taste was changing, he had a friend with an older sibling who listen to things he had not really heard of before. The friends sibling would give him and his friends mixtapes with music like this and he says that this gave him the opportunity to get exposed to what he felt like he was missing. He said that he had heard of the Grateful Dead but was not conscious of them. His Sophomore year of college was when one of his friends and him decided to go to a Grateful Dead concert in Atlanta in 1988. "And it completely changed my view of concerts and music in general." Before this he had seen bands like Bone Jovi, Bryan Adams, KISS, Ven Halen, but not until he saw the Grateful Dead did he really "understand what a live audience could do to a person/ listener." At this concert it focused him on a genre he didn't really know and it drew him into this throw back 60s aura. He says that some things that made him fall in love with the Grateful Dead was the broad amount of styles, arrangements and themes that they provide. After listening to the Grateful Dead my Dad felt that he gained a more open mind to melody and rhythm. 

My next question for him was how was your relationship with music changed? 

Once my dad began playing guitar it was over, he was in love. He says that his relationship changed by starting as a casual listener and turning into a interested listener. From there he became a newbie musician to someone who plays on a regular basis. He says that his relationship with music is a continual development. 

When I asked my father what some of his favorite concerts he had been to were he paused, for a long time. Then says the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, Tedeschi Trucks, Phish in Madison Square Garden and then lists off a couple festivals. Following this he says can I just send you a list of all the concerts I've been to? Then, a couple hours after our phone conversation, he calls me back and says well Pearl Jam with you was actually a great experience. So, below is the list of concerts that he has been to: 

  
Some people he wished he could still see if they were living is the Beatles and Pink Floyd. 

The last and my favorite question for him was "what does music mean to you?"

"Music keeps me in touch with the essence of being a human being. Even though music is influenced by who creates it, it is also influenced by everything that surround us like weather, love, hate, pride, or etc. When you listen to music you can detach from those emotions and just be moved and appreciate what is being made" He believes that the purpose of music is the "express or evoke the emotions that human experience brings." 

If you had to describe your life in one song, what would it be? 

When I asked him this questions he took a pause, longer than the first one. He wrote the question down and about a day later a receive a call with his answer. 

"If I had the world to give by the Grateful Dead" He says 

"Do you want to say anything about why or do you just want to leave it at that?" I asked

"Just leave it at that, give it a listen." 

So here is "If I had the world to give" by the Grateful Dead: