James Montgomery coming to the Larcom

BEVERLY – New England’s James Montgomery will record a live performance May 21 at the Larcom Theater.The event will serve a dual purpose as a concert and a live recording event for the creation and ultimate release of a CD to be entitled “James Montgomery – Live at the Larcom.”The CD, which will be released in early September, will feature the James Montgomery Band and featured guests, and will raise funds for assistance to wounded and disabled veterans.There will be a 90-minute minute performance by Montgomery and his band. The show will begin with an acoustic performance by a duo consisting of Whitney Doucet and another performer TBA followed by a short intermission and then James and the band will take the stage to perform.There are two tiers of tickets available. There’s a limited number at $39 each, while the balance will be made available by Montgomery and his foundation “V is for Veterans” to veterans organizations and through the local VA hospitals.The concert starts at 8:30 p.m., with doors open at 7.Montgomery has been dubbed “The John Mayall of New England” by former J. Geils vocalist Peter Wolf. He has been a Bay State blues machine since 1970, when he formed his first band while a student at Boston University.Montgomery has toured with many artists, including Aerosmith, Geils, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, The Allman Brothers, The Steve Miller Band, The Johnny Winter Band, The Blues Brothers (with Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd), B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and guitarist Brad Whitford, Charlie Daniels, Gregg Allman, LaVern Baker, Patti LaBelle, Jonathan Edwards, Huey Lewis, Rick Derringer, Sly & the Family Stone and others.While attending BU, Montgomery started the James Montgomery Band. During his junior year, he was hired by the Colwell-Winfield Blues Band to play harmonica and tour with Janis Joplin.By the time he graduated college his band was on the cover of the Boston Phoenix, heralded along with J. Geils and Aerosmith as the city’s great contributions to the music world.Though he said he loved the academic life, when offered a $15,000 job at BU, Mr. Montgomery took a $250,000 offer to record records and tour with the Allman Brothers instead, and never looked back.In 1970 Montgomery formed The James Montgomery Blues Band, as it was known at the time. James and the band took the town and the region by storm. There was no venue immune from the sounds of Montgomery and his bandmates. Continuous touring and refining of their act brought them to the attention of record labels looking to add a high energy, high profile touring act to their roster.In 2000 Montgomery received a gold record for his recording on the album Double Wide, which was Uncle Kracker’s first solo album released on June 30, 2000 and produced by Kid Rock.In February 2002 three tracks from the Bring in on Home CD were featured at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, during the hockey games. They were broadcast to over 2 billion people worldwide.Johnny Winter asked Montgomery to join the The Johnny Winter Band, along with Scott Spray and Wayne June for a National Tour of the West Coast and parts of Europe. As James put it, Johnny Winter was my boss for five years while I toured with him as his personal harmonica player. James continues to perform with Johnny Winter when they’re not working on other projects.Through more than three decades, Montgomery has continued to lead his own band and at one time or another this group has included musicians such as guitarists Marc Copley, Jeff Golub, Wayne Kramer, Jeff Pevar, Nunzio Signore, Billy Squier and Matt Woodburn, keyboard player Tom West, bass player David Hull and drummers Bobby Chouinard, Jim McCarty and Marty Richards. In addition to performing, Montgomery works energetically to promote the blues through schools and radio broadcasts. Songs in Montgomery’s repertoire include ?Back From The Dead’, ?Mystery’, ?