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<\/p>\nGuitarist Coco Montoya is a respected figure in the blues world. After years working with two towering blues figures, he launched a solo career, winning a W.C. Handy Award for his 1996 debut. Nearly 30 years later, he has a deep catalog and a well-earned reputation as a compelling live performer. But he hasn\u2019t forgotten where he came from, or the lessons he\u2019s learned along the way.<\/p>\n
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Today Montoya remains grateful for that award, but he shakes his head and laughs when the subject is brought up. \u201cBelieve me, I\u2019m appreciative,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I won for \u2018best newcomer\u2019!\u201d At the time, Montoya had been on the road as a musician for nearly 25 years. \u201cI had been hanging out with B.B. King, Albert King, Jeff Beck, Mick Taylor and Johnny Otis,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I thought \u2018Best newcomer\u2019 was kind of hilarious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Montoya did more than hang out with famous names in the rock and blues world. A self-trained multi-instrumentalist from an early age, he attracted the attention of blues legend Albert Collins, who invited him to join his band. At the time, Montoya had zero experience as a pro musician, but Collins saw something in him. Working as a bartender in a Culver City joint, he played drums in a local band. \u201cI was 19,\u201d he recalls, \u201cplaying a Chicano circuit.\u201d<\/p>\n
One day, the bar owner asked Collins to play a matinee gig. Without asking Montoya, he offered Collins and his band the use of Montoya\u2019s drums that were already set up onstage. At first, Montoya was pretty pissed off about it, but once he met Collins, he was so taken by his warm and friendly manner that he enthusiastically went along. And when Collins heard him play drums, he invited Montoya to join his touring band.<\/p>\n
Though he would only stay with Collins\u2019 group for a few years, Montoya says that he learned important lessons from his mentor. \u201cHe set me on a quest in my mind to find that inner power that I saw work for him,\u201d he says. Day in and day out, he witnessed Collins\u2019 perseverance and dedication. \u201cHe would drive hours and hours to a gig,\u201d Montoya recalls, \u201cand then have to deal with somebody treat him in a bad way because of his skin color.\u201d \u201cOr a cop would pull us over and give him grief.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even after enduring those kinds of insults, Collins would take to the stage with grace and enthusiasm. \u201cIt was amazing to watch him play after that,\u201d Montoya says. \u201cHe\u2019d get the crowd so excited that we\u2019d have to do an encore. He would do all that, carrying us on his back.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Mayall is widely hailed as the \u201cgodfather of British blues.\u201d Leading the Bluesbreakers, he employed a staggering succession of musicians including Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Jack Bruce, Mick Fleetwood, Harvey Mandel and many others. And the lead guitarist with the second-longest tenure in the group would be Coco Montoya.<\/p>\n
Montoya didn\u2019t even seek out that spot. \u201cI was out of the business,\u201d he emphasizes. \u201cI had a bartending gig, making steady money, and I didn\u2019t have to put up with any bullshit from club owners.\u201d But he still played guitar. One evening he took part in a jam session at the Viper Room in West Hollywood. \u201cUnbeknownst to me,\u201d he recalls, \u201cJohn Mayall came in, celebrating one of his birthdays.\u201d When it was Montoya\u2019s turn to play, he did what he describes as \u201ca bastardized version\u201d of the Otis Rush blues classic, \u201cAll Your Love (I Miss Love).\u201d<\/p>\n
A few months later, Montoya\u2019s phone rang. \u201cIt was this English guy saying he was John Mayall, and that he was rebuilding the Bluesbreakers since Mick Taylor had left to play with Bob Dylan,\u201d Montoya explains. Thinking it was a prank pulled by the British owner of the pub where he tended bar, Montoya hung up on the caller.<\/p>\n
Mayall called back. \u201cDon\u2019t hang up,\u201d he insisted. He offered Montoya the co-lead guitar spot in his band. Montoya joined, and spent nearly a decade with Mayall, playing alongside Kal David and then Walter Trout. His work would be featured on six Bluesbreakers albums.<\/p>\n
Montoya learned a great deal during his years with Mayall, but one lesson was particularly important. \u201cEarly on, John took me out on the carpet,\u201d he recalls. \u201cCoco, I need to tell you something,\u201d Mayall said. \u201cI see what you’re doing, and that\u2019s not what I need. You’re trying to be Mick Taylor on this<\/i> song, and you\u2019re trying to be Eric Clapton on this<\/i> song. I want you to play you<\/i>.\u201d Montoya took the advice; he quit trying to copy the work of the guitarists who came before him. From that point forward, he applied his own personal guitar style to the Bluesbreakers.<\/p>\n
And when Montoya went solo, he continued to follow that path. Drawing on his wide array of inspirations, he charted his own way through a successful career that endures to this day. His 11th<\/sup> and most recent release, 2023\u2019s Writing on the Wall<\/i> is more than a guitar showcase; Montoya writes actual songs. Still steeped in the blues, his work moves seamlessly beyond that framework to take in many other styles. \u201cGenres didn\u2019t matter to me as a kid,\u201d he says today. \u201cAnd they still don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Guitarist Coco Montoya is a respected figure in the blues world. After years working with two towering blues figures, he launched a solo career, winning a W.C. Handy Award for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,41],"tags":[4055,1186],"class_list":["post-27751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-interview","tag-coco-montoya","tag-john-mayall","cat-9-id","cat-41-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27751"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27753,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27751\/revisions\/27753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}