Memphis singer-songwriter Dan Montgomery brings things full circle with new album

“The last few years, I spent a lot of time just staring out my back door trying to figure out what the hell was going on in the world,” says singer-songwriter Dan Montgomery.”

That sense of wondering pervades Montgomery’s seventh and latest LP, “Cast-Iron Songs and Torch Ballads,” released on his own Fantastic Yes Records label in April.

The Memphis-based musician will mark the release with a show on May 14 at B-Side, inside Minglewood Hall. The concert will feature his band, The Dan Montgomery 3+2, playing the new album in full as well as a “greatest hits” set.

Born in Philadelphia and raised in South Jersey, the 62-year-old Montgomery was something of a musical late bloomer. Though he’d played in bands for years and worked on the road for the better part of a decade managing tours for Ben Vaughn, he’d never fully stepped into the spotlight until arriving in Memphis in 2002.

His first solo album, the bleak, funny character study “Man From Out of State,” was released in 2003; he followed with a finely etched concept record called “Rosetta, please (a love story)” five years later. By the time 2010’s “You’ll Never Be a Bird” came out, Montgomery had built a small but strong following among critics and fans as a gifted storyteller focusing on those living in the margins of society.

Two more albums — 2014’s “Sin, Repent, Repeat” and 2017’s “Gone” — followed, then came his 2020 effort “Smoke and Mirrors (A Phonographic Memory),” released just as the world was about to enter the pandemic and as Montgomery’s own life was about to turn upside down.

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“The record came out the week everything shut down for COVID. And the same week my wife had a stroke,” says Montgomery. “My whole world has been dealing with that. I retired from my job in August, and I’m mostly taking care of her.”

Given his family obligations it seemed unlikely Montgomery would be making another album. “I thought I wasn’t going to be doing anything for a while,” he says. “But then just on a whim, I got a 1959 Danelectro guitar online. Which is unusual — I never buy a guitar without playing it. But as soon as I got it, I started writing. All the songs fell out really fast.”

Armed with this new batch of material, Montgomery congregated with his producer/guitarist Robert Mache and band including backing vocalist Candace Mache, bassist Tom Arndt and drummer James Cunningham at the latter’s Midtown’s studio, The Shack in the Back.

“We made the record in four two-hour sessions. Other than backing vocals and percussion, it was all done live on the floor,” says Montgomery. “I thought originally we were just doing demos. But Robert has a theory that if you do a good take, why is it a demo? Which is great, 'cause I would probably work it to death otherwise. He’s got a good instinct for capturing that moment in the studio. Instead of laboring over the record, we just hammered it out — which felt great to do.”

The material on “Cast-Iron Songs and Torch Ballads” — which also features guest appearances by Memphis session vets Jim Spake on sax and Rick Steff on keyboards — doesn’t have the overriding theme typical of Montgomery’s recent LPs.

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“Usually there’s a conceptual thread through most of my records. And I was thinking there wasn’t this time, ‘cause everything was done so quickly,” says Montgomery. “But when I look back at it, it’s really a record about perseverance and people withstanding difficult situations. In that way, it makes perfect sense.”

Musically, the album is more upbeat and rocking than his past efforts. “It didn’t feel like the time to write a brooding record. There’s a million reasons to, but everybody’s got them now,” says Montgomery.

“But it probably is my most rock 'n' roll record.  It’s funny, when I first arrived here in Memphis I was just a guy with an acoustic guitar and a lot of people think of me that way still. To them, this record sounds different. But people back home in Philly or New Jersey who know me from the old days are saying, ‘You finally sound like yourself again.'”

One of the album’s highlights is a song from way back, a track called “Lonesome Train” — which has become something out a breakout for Montgomery, with the tune getting regular spins on Little Steven’s Sirius satellite radio channel, The Underground Garage.

“‘Lonesome Train’ is a song I wrote 40 years ago. It’s the first decent song I ever wrote and it never got recorded for one reason or another. And I just pulled it out during this session,” says Montgomery. “And it’s strange now 'cause that’s the song that’s getting all the airplay all of a sudden. This whole album is a very full-circle record for me.”

The Dan Montgomery 3 +2

Record release show for "Cast-Iron Songs and Torch Ballads"

7 p.m. May 14 at B-Side, inside Minglewood Hall, 1555 Madison

Cover is $10.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: New Memphis music: Dan Montgomery celebrates release of new album