Monty Lane Allen's surprisingly great album

  Okay, that title's probably a bit misleading.  It wasn't that I was expecting bad things, it's just that I honestly didn't have a clue what to expect when I was asked to review this album, Great Big World. 

Well folks, I was very pleasantly surprised.  It's always awesome to get an album that I actually like the whole thing, and I really loved Monty's whole album.  Before I get into why liked the album, let me tell you a little about Monty, just in case you're in the dark like I was. 

Read full review after jump...

Monty was a member of Alan Jackson's live touring band, The Strayhorns, for five years.  I personally didn't know his band had a name, I just figured it was Alan Jackson's band.  Well Monty was a member of that band-I-didn't-know-had-it's-own-name.  He's apparently very well known in Nashville for his vocals and has worked with such greats as Loretta Lynn, Shania Twain, Porter Wagoner, and Brad Paisley just to name a few.  He's also been listed in People Magazine's "Nine New Stars Worth Listening To" AND on top of all of that he's a pretty healthy guy and was featured on AOL Celebrity Fitness.  The guy's been busy. 

So there's an introduction to Monty.  Now for his album.  Like I said, I was very pleasantly surprised.  The album has fast and slow, original and remakes.  The funny thing about the album is that nearly every song I listened to I struggled to think of where I had heard it before.  It seemed like every song I heard was an old friend I hadn't heard for a long time and was happy to hear again.  That probably sounds fanciful and silly, but that's really how I felt.  It was like I knew I had heard the song before but couldn't quite place where, even on the songs that were completely original.  I don't exactly know why I had that feeling, but it made the CD a very comfortable collection of tunes to listen to, like a CD I had had forever and was just rediscovering.  Very nice.

One song was an old favorite, although when I heard it I had the worst time placing why I could sing along to every word.  Monty remade Steve Winwood's 1980's "Back In The Highlife."  I listened to this song like four times before it drove me crazy enough that I had to Google it.  After I figured out why I knew this song I was like duh.  But really, Monty does it even better than Steve Winwood and makes it his own which is probably what lead to my total tune amnesia.   You can check out the behind-the-scenes video of the making of "Highlife" below.  

I'm not going to go through the entire CD and review every song because there's no point, the whole thing is wonderful.  From the first song of "Great Big World" to the 12th song, "Soldier Coming Home," they're all equally great in my book.  Unlike many of today's releases, the CD's not trying to make it onto the pop charts, it's purely a country CD, and despite the fact that I'm generally known for liking the country-pop sound, this CD WILL make it into the rotation of my own CD collection that I listen to on a regular basis.  Trust me, that doesn't happen with every CD I review. 

Now we just need to get some of this music playing on radio and my mission will be complete. 

More Monty at his MySpace and his website.

Here's my personal favorite from the CD, Fallin' Water. 

 

 

Complete track listing:

1. Great Big World

2. Somewhere Out West

3. Fallin' Water. 

4. This Could Get Good

5. That Ain't The Mountain

6. Hang Around

7. Salvation

8. Make Me Think About Her

9. Back In The Highlife

10. The Kite

11. Walk This Earth

12. Soldier Coming Home