Americana from New Jersey that speaks to the human experience.
The Mike Montrey Band are one of the most popular roots rock bands in New Jersey who have worked hard over the years touring the highways and byways of the United States. The band are known not justfor their road-hardened performances and musical interplay, but also for the quality of their songwriting. With their new album, “Love, Time & Mortality”, Mike Montrey has probably written his most personal set of songs to date that reflect on the finite nature of the human condition. Americana UK’s Martin Johnson caught up with Mike Montrey over Zoom to discuss his new batch of songs and album. He explains why he wanted to produce this album himself after working with other producers on his recent albums. The challenges of writing songs that are personal and relate to real people and events as opposed to more ethereal song lyrics is also explored by Mike. He shares his views on the new reality of the music business and how he is conflicted with the power of the internet to enable him to reach a lot of new listeners but that also undermines, to an extent, the viability of grassroots touring. Finally, Mike Montrey explains how his work with students with disabilities has prompted him to revisit and do a deep dive on the music of Hank Williams.
