Crawling Spider- A Tribute To Mike Montgomery Vol. 1: The LA Sessions
MUM, 2020
9/10
Listen to Crawling Spider- A Tribute To Mike Montgomery Vol. 1 The L.A. Sessions
Curated by Marlon Montgomery, the son of Back Street Crawler songwriter and keyboardist Mike Montgomery, this tribute album brings in 20+ musicians, including John “Rabbit” Brundrick, Terry Stesser, Terry Wilson and Tony Braunagel, who were all members of Back Street Crawler.
“Survivor” starts the listen with Robbie Wyckoff’s soaring vocals on the fluid blues rocker where Billy Watts lends his guitar prowess as Adam MacDougall’s keys make an impression, and “Rock’n’Roll Junkie” benefits from Mark Campbell’s versatile pipes on the frisky atmosphere that makes good use of Terry Wilson’s deft drumming.
Closer to the middle, “Stealing My Way” recruits Teresa James to duet with Wyckoff as MacDougall’s spirited keys steer the cautious yet playful delivery, while the rugged “All The Girls Are Crazy (Flood The Engine)” puts Jimmy Kunes on vocals as Bill Leverty’s guitar helps cultivate a thick, nearly hard rock atmosphere. Some of the best tracks are the rare studio demos, including the cautious and powerful “King Of The Mountain”, where Montgomery himself is on vocal duties, and features Paul Thompson sitting behind the drum kit.
All the deep tracks are also studio demos, the best of the bunch being the classic rock inspired “Sidekick To The Stars”, where Montgomery dispays his keyboard skills as Brian Robertson and Jimmy Bain handle guitar and bass respectively, and “Can’t Be Sad” a demo from Montgomery’s pre-Back Street Crawler band, Bloontz, exits the listen key focused as Andy Chapman’s gritty singing ends the listen on a very high note.
A project that was 5 years in the making, it’s quite evident much work went into these renditions, as the all star cast offer selections from Back Street Crawler’s first album (Montgomery wrote the bulk of the album), as well as Montgomery’s lesser known outfit Rough House and the lone Bloontz finisher. Toss on the solo studio demos, as well as a cover by Omar & The Howlers, and you’ve got the quintessential Mike Montgomery collection.
Travels well with: Pete Thelen- Best For Last; Jeff Fetterman- Southern Son