''Montana Tale'' is the first "official" studio album by the folk-singer John Craigie. It was released in December 2009 on Zabriskie Point Records. It is his first album since ''

i always -ed you John Craigie (born June 15, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and storyteller. Hailed as a "Modern-Day Troubadour" in the style of Woody Guthrie, Craigie's comedic storytelling style has been compared to Mitch Hedberg, while his music and c ...

'' without Trent Boeschen and Kevin Hobson, and marks a turning point in his career. All the albums before this are considered his "early years". ''Montana Tale'' was recorded over the summer of 2009 at Gadgetbox Studios in Santa Cruz, California. The guitarist Leland Jackness returned, along with Randy Schwartz on drums and

Zach Gill Zach Gill (born May 18, 1975) is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter. He performs regularly as a solo artist in addition to being a member of Animal Liberation Orchestra and Jack Johnson's band. Gill has performed at festivals and on te ...

on piano, organ and accordion. The album is considered a

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

due to its numerous references to the state of

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

and certain cities within the state. Craigie claimed that many of the songs were written on his early tours through the western United States, when he spent a lot of time traveling through Montana. The album includes many of Craigie's best-known songs, including "28" which is about the

27 Club The 27 Club is an informal list consisting mostly of popular musicians, artists, actors, and other celebrities who died at age 27. Although the claim of a "statistical spike" for the death of musicians at that age has been refuted by scientific ...

and the deaths of

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredicta ...

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...

and

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...

. It was his first album to receive significant airplay and was placed in rotation on radio stations such as

KHUM Administrative divisions of Cambodia have several levels. Cambodia is divided into 24 provinces (''Khaet''; km, ខេត្ត, ) and the special administrative unit Phnom Penh. Though a different administrative unit, Phnom Penh is at provin ...

and

KPIG KPIG-FM (107.5 FM, "K-PIG") is a radio station located near the city of Santa Cruz, California, United States. Founded in 1988, the studio is based in Watsonville, California, and broadcasts to the counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey. It als ...

Track listing

Personnel

* John Craigie – acoustic guitar, harmonica, vocals, producer *Leland Jackness - electric guitar, vocals, producer *Randy Schwartz - percussion, vVocals, producer *

- piano, organ, accordion *Andy Zenczak - electric bass guitar *Bobby Hanson - upright bass *Laura Smith - violin *Toby Oler - banjo *Ben Hulan - vocals Production: * Cian Riordan - engineering, mixing *Andy Zenczak - engineering

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montana Tale John Craigie (musician) albums 2009 albums