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LORING MONTGOMERY’S DEBUT ALBUM “GONNA BE OKAY”

A MULTIFACETED SONG CYCLE OF HOPE FOR ANYONE LOST IN THESE TURBULANT TIMES

In Loring Montgomery’s title track on his extraordinary debut Gonna be Ok, a rustic harmonica-driven Woody Guthrie-style paean to peace and understanding, is a voice from the wilderness, the sound of a depression-era hobo with a guitar sitting in a solitary farmhouse singing for his supper. “There’s a lot of anxiety out there now,” he says, “people need to hear right now that everybody’s going to be okay.” 

 

Rustic as the opening track may be, the record is really a banquet of styles and moods, suffused with the wisdom of a man who’s learned not to sweat the small stuff and he’s seen a lot of it. 

 

Recorded in Nashville at The Treehouse Studios with top-flight pros Tim Carter and Mike McAdam, the arrangements support Loring’s voice of experience with guitars both supple or punchy, mandolins, harmonica and harmony vocals that take the songs into places that are sweet when they need to be and foot-tapping when the situation calls for it. Loring has seen a lot and looks back at rocky moments with charity instead of rancor. There are whiffs of Neil Young’s pensive side in a marriage with Jimmy Webb and Ray Davies’s keen eye for observing others and getting to the core of situations. 

 

Born in Massachusetts a ripe 72 years ago, Loring grew up playing harmonica on lots of Kinks covers in a high school band, and then went to college. His prospects led him to Idaho where he commenced a 35-year career as a landscape architect, designing whole new neighborhoods. He also participated in storytelling festivals, wrote short stories, and kept his feet wet in a blues band; and the music never left him. 

 

The record, including the standout tracks “Don’t Lie to Me,” “Full Moon Ride,” and “Promised Land” all, in different shapes and sounds, lead to Loring’s enduring message, “you’ve sometimes just got to fight for, and to stand on your own ground and hope things change. That’s our plan at this point.” Well, the plan appears to involve an extraordinary debut album, a song cycle what can go around and around with new elements to pick up on in repeated listening. Sublime, rough and reader, graceful: that’s Gonna Be Ok. 

 

Tommy Womack 

Nashville, Tennessee 
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Loring Montgomery

Recorded at The Treehouse Studios by 

Tim Carter, Ridgetop, TN 

Mixed by Tim Carter 

Mastered by Dave Harris, 

Studio B Mastering Charlotte, NC 

Cover Graphic Designs- Olivia Hampton

Mike McAdam- Bass, Guitars, Keyboards, Drums

 Tim Carter- Mandolin, Banjo

Loring Montgomery- Vocals, Harmonica 

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Gonna Be OK | 3:54
Gonna be OK
By Loring Montgomery

Don’t know why I lived so long.

Gonna try to right what’s wrong.

You and I are gonna sing our song.

Gonna be OK.

Hanging on for hanging’s sake.

Gotta make a living for living’s sake.

Gonna love a little bit, try not to take,

In everything I do.

Gonna do it all for you.

Gonna be OK.

Gonna be OK.

Made up stories and alibis.

Don’t know why I even try.

Singing songs that sound like blues.

Feeling sad about the evening news.

So now I lay me down to sleep.

I pray dear Lord my soul to keep;

and if I die before I wake.

I pray dear lord my soul to take.

Gonna be ok.

Gonna be ok.

Gonna be ok.

Gonna be ok.

Don’t Lie to Me | 3:21
Don’t Lie to Me
By Loring Montgomery

Please don’t lie to me.

Wisdom’s falling from the apple tree.

Can’t you see?

Things aren’t the way they used to be.

Try to remember the days gone by.

When we could make it if we try.

Paul was singing his simple love songs.

That’s where I belong.

So please don’t lie to me.

Just don’t lie to me.

Tell the neighbor’s living next door.

I don’t live here anymore.

I’ve gone to live within my dreams.

So please don’t, please don’t lie to me.

Just don’t lie to me.

Don’t lie to me.

Please don’t lie to me.

Starting Over Again | 3:43
Lyrics
Starting Over Again
By Loring Montgomery

I’m sitting on a mountain top.

Waiting for the world to end.

Never knowing when to stop.

Seems I’ve lost my way again.

So tell me now what should I seek?

From all my dreams which should I keep?

Most are lost now in my sleep.

Starting over again.

I’m hanging on a limb.

Can’t you see I’m getting older my friend?

What is truth and what’s a sin?

Constant changes blowing in the wind.

If I keep walking where do I go?

Signs of age begin to show.

Seeking answers I’ll never know.

Starting over again.

Seventeen when I left home;

to live like everyday was my last.

Running fast to pasts unknown.

Its all now in the distant past.

If I keep walking where do I go?

Seems my age begins to show.

Seeking answers I’ll never know.

Starting over again.

Promised Land | 3:20
Promised Land
By Loring Montgomery

Is life more like the seasons change?

Leaves are lost but the trees remain.

Sky of blue or winter grey;

directs our course on a given day.

Fragrant blooms in the early spring;

erase despair that the cold night brings.

Let’s walk together now while we still live free.

Spend some time and sing a song with me.

Let’s walk together now while we still live free.

Spend some time and sing a song with me.

Let’s walk together now.

I know we can;

and we’ll all go up to the promised land.

To the promised land.

To the promised land.

Full Moon Ride | 3:58
Full Moon Ride
By Loring Montgomery

What difference I ask between man and the beasts?

Is not family their purpose in search for the feast?

Do parents not scramble when the night starts their day?

In kind with our likeness on this earth we shall stay.

In pursuit of creation perceived as we do;

are our dreams not the same for me and for you?

So let us ride with the chieftains.

We shall ride with the kings.

We shall ride with the challenge that daily life brings.

Ambition compels us through the midday sun;

respectfully forgotten on a full moon run.

Memories secured, dreams we all be hold.

Held deep inside dreams gloriously told.

We grow in our knowledge.

Don’t submit to our pride.

No dreams are forsaken on a full moon ride.

On a full moon ride.

Song for Cynder | 3:03
Song for Cynder
By Loring Montgomery

I’m getting ready.

I’m just waiting for the rest.

You might think it’s crazy.

but I’m thinking it’s the best.

I was planning for Tuesday;

but Sunday will do.

I’m not being lazy.

I’m just waiting here for you.

Sometimes there’s trouble;

and sometimes there’s pain.

When were marching on the double with nothing to gain.

’m trapped in my confusion of what I think is right.

I’m lost in my illusions.

I’m leaving here tonight.

Maybe by tomorrow it’s gonna be ok.

I’ll go off to the work I know just like everyday.

But if I had you by my side,

we’d hop on a bus and go for a ride.

Forget about the rules that we can’t abide and find a better way;

and that’s just where we’ll stay.

With my Cynthia Diane gonna make a new plan.

Albatross | 2:57
Albatross
By Loring Montgomery

Have your dreams been lost?

Floating on the back of an Albatross?

Flying slowly over water’s still;

waiting again to be your will.

Where once an Eagle soared.

Flying with you both you know in one accord.

To a place that seemed so far away.

Was it you that chose to stay?

Do you choose again?

A different path until the final end?

Or lose your will; and stay on in the same old course;

and fall into the same remorse?

So keep your light on.

I think that that’s a better way.

The sun’s gonna shine again I know some day.

And take your blues away.

Keep your light on.

Sun’s gonna shine again I know some day;

and take your blues away.

Leavin’ the Bayou | 4:20
Leavin’ the Bayou
By Loring Montgomery

I’m leaving the Bayou.

Got my ticket for the plane.

I’m leaving the Bayou.

Got my ticket for the train.

Don’t even try to stop me.

Cause I’m feeling to much pain.

Maybe I’ll go to Texas.

Play some music, have some fun.

Maybe I’ll go to Texas.

Have some music on the run.

Maybe I’ll go to England;

but I hear there’s too much rain.

I like the songs of Scotland;

but I think I’ll go to Spain.

Leavin’ the Bayou.

Got my ticket for the plane.

Leavin’ the Bayou.

Got my ticket for the train.

Don’t even try to stop me.

There’s just too much dang rain.

Take Me to the Garden | 3:44
Lyrics
Take me to the Garden
By Loring Montgomery

Take me to the garden where innocence is lost.

Hold me close and let me lie there still.

To live within the season; avoiding all that’s lost.

Hold me close to renew again my will.

Don’t let there be confusion.

Don’t worry about the past.

Just take me to the garden where innocence will last.

Color all around me held closely to my heart.

You might never find me;

but I’m begging you to start.

Keep in mind there’s a telephone line.

That’s holding me back and setting my time.

My neck’s in a noose won’t you cut it loose for me.

I won’t ever complain if I go insane.

Another day’s past and is never to gain.

A day in the garden is where I want to be.

Now it’s time to renew my line.

Banker called and she said it’s fine.

She’ll renew my credit for another month or two.

There will be interest to add but I won’t be mad.

I’m looking up to the spirit and it’s making me glad.

A day in the garden is what I want to do.

I want to go within the garden with lion and the lamb;

to be strenghthend by my reflection and be content just where I

am.

In the garden I’m free and it’s there for me.

I can make it right if I’m willing to fight;

or I can just let it go.

Don’t you know.

Making "Gonna be OK"

Treehouse Studio in Ridgetop, TN, with Tim Carter from the original Carter Family and Michael McAdam, who is one of the original Dukes from Steve Earl and the Dukes. They both produced and played on the album.

Tim is also a worldwide banjo player and Grammy Award-winning record engineer. Well known for his band “The Carter Brothers” with his brother Danny, and recently the band “Hayseed Dixie.”

Mike has been lead guitar player for everyone from Steve Earl and the Dukes, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Foster & Lloyd, and his own Good Humor Band. He is also a well-known session player recording in Nashville and Muscle Shoals.

Send your questions and comments to Loring Montgomery.