PEL Presents NEM#258: Dan Montgomery: Direct Communication
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What is the background and early career of Dan Montgomery before his solo work?
You're listening to Nakedly Examined Music, a podcast about songs and songwriters. My name's Mark Linsenmeier. My guest for episode 258 is singer-songwriter Dan Montgomery. After leading a short-lived project called Drugs Before Breakfast, he released his first solo album in 2004. You are currently listening to Always from that album, Man Out of State. He's just released his eighth album, Dispatches from the Desert. An entirely solo affair produced by his friend and one of my past guests, the legendary Ben Vaughn. We'll be discussing Busted from that record, then looking to Beaumont from his previous record, 2023's Cast Iron Songs and Torch Ballads, then looking back to Favorite Color from Rosetta Please, A Love Story from 2006.
We'll conclude by listening to Lookin' for a Fight, also from that new album. For more, see danmontgomery.bandcamp.com. For more about this podcast, see nakedlyexaminedmusic.com or get the episodes ad-free at patreon.com slash nakedlyexaminedmusic. So I played a little bit of Always from Man From Out of State, your first album, 2004.
How did Dan transition from being Ben Vaughn’s sound‑man to releasing his first solo album?
You had been good enough to send me your pre, what, like a whole decade before that, this Philadelphia band, Drugs Before Breakfast. We want to get pretty quickly to the new thing, but yeah, give us a little of the story from the beginning in Dispatches From the Desert. This is your eighth album, is that right? Correct, yes. That's a lot of years for eight albums. Tell us a little about the journey before we hear it.
Well, first of all, I want to go on record by saying, yes, I was in a band called Drugs Before Breakfast, but that's what happens when you allow the drummer to name the band. It was never my idea, but it got us a lot of notoriety, I will say that. I was a very late starter at everything because I was playing in cover bands in South Jersey when I was like 14, and I was like the youngest guy in the band. I stopped for a while because a lot of bad living got in the way. I had the strangest career trajectory in that I got off hard drugs because I went on the road with a band.
Get off drugs because you're on the road with a band that's usually, yes, usually the other way around.
I know, exactly. My whole career is the exact opposite of what a plan would be. But I met a guy who you've actually interviewed, my friend Ben Vaughn. And we just met through a mutual friend in like 1984. five, I think it was, and he was looking for a sound man, and I was looking for something to do, and I became his sound man. For next five or six years, I was just on the road with him all the time, and we actually lived in the same house together.
What inspired the solo‑only recording approach on Dispatches from the Desert?
I hadn't done anything of my own musically until I retired from being his touring sound man. I was in a couple of little bands in Philadelphia, and then this band started called Drugs Before Breakfast, which was the first time I ever fronted a
band.
And in fact, until we did the recording that I sent you, I had never heard my voice on tape before. Because when I was 14, I tried singing in the first band I was in, and it didn't go well. And everyone made such fun of me, I just swore I would never sing again. Then I became a front man in the band, and that became the band Drunk For Breakfast. We had a total of two gigs and one recording session, and then I had to move to Michigan for a couple of years. Then the band reunited after that, but it was never quite the same. Slowly but surely, I build up my solo career from there.
Okay. So yeah, it's about a decade later that we get man from out of state. And then you, it seems like you've been pretty consistent since then. Is this a part-time gig? Are you touring or usually I save these questions for later, but let's just get into it.
Yeah. I would like it to be a full-time gig. I am retired from my day job now. My wife had a stroke a few years back, so I've spent a lot of my time as a home healthcare person as well. Geez. So I don't tour as much, but it's also very hard to do that and not lose a ton of money these days.
How did the song “Busted” evolve from its original demo to the final album version?
So I'm trying to find alternate versions of that from what I used to know.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the background and early career of Dan Montgomery before his solo work?
0:08–1:19
2
How did Dan transition from being Ben Vaughn’s sound‑man to releasing his first solo album?
1:19–2:42
3
What inspired the solo‑only recording approach on Dispatches from the Desert?
2:42–4:01
4
How did the song “Busted” evolve from its original demo to the final album version?
4:01–5:38
5
What story does the track “Beaumont” tell and how does it reflect Dan’s recent songwriting?
5:38–10:03
6
Why is “Favorite Color” considered a pivotal moment in Dan’s early concept album?
10:03–13:31
7
What is the meaning behind the new song “Looking for a Fight” and how did it originate?
13:31–16:46
8
What are Dan’s upcoming projects and how is he planning the next full‑band record?
16:46–1:11:40
Speakers
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