Monty Byrom (born 1958) is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. He fronted the rock band

Billy Satellite Billy Satellite was an American rock band based in Oakland, California. They are perhaps best known for composing and performing "I Wanna Go Back," which would later become a hit for Eddie Money. It was also covered by Gregg Rolie on his 1985 se ...

and wrote hit songs for

Eddie Money Edward Joseph Mahoney (March 21, 1949 – September 13, 2019), known professionally as Eddie Money, was an American singer and songwriter who, in the 1970s and 1980s, had eleven Top 40 songs, including "Baby Hold On", "Two Tickets to Parad ...

. Later while leading the "soul country" band Big House, Byrom made a significant contribution to the new Bakersfield Sound, with a nod to his Bakersfield roots.

Early life

Byrom was born in Corpus Christi,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and raised in

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. His original musical influences were

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...

Billy Mize William Robert Mize (April 29, 1929 – October 29, 2017) was an American steel guitarist, band leader, vocalist, songwriter, and TV show host. Biography Mize was born in Arkansas City, Kansas, United States, but raised in the San Joaquin Valley ...

Buck Owens Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), known professionally as Buck Owens, was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was the lead singer for the Buckaroos, Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, which had 21 ...

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

, and

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack (; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guit ...

. When he was seventeen, he joined the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. After attending the Norfolk Navy School of Music, he played in the Navy band, performing at high schools and colleges across the United States. Although Bakersfield had a rising country music scene, he grew to prefer the music of

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, also referred to as Creedence and CCR, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band initially consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother, ...

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

, Jim Hendrix, and

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

.Billy Satellite - II
. ''Heavy Harmonies Forums''. Retrieved 2022-06-24. After the Navy, he played in a Bay Area band, The Heaters. In the 1980s, he played with the Dead Family.

Career

Billy Satellite

In the early 1980s, Byrom was a founding member of the

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda (island), Alam ...

band

. He provided lead vocals and played guitar and keyboards for the

Album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-oriente ...

band. He also co-wrote the band's songs. The band signed with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

John S. Carter John S. Carter, Jr. (June 14, 1945 – May 10, 2011), better known as simply Carter, was an American music producer, writer, arranger, instrumentalist, and A&R man. Carter was born the son of an oil wildcatter in East St. Louis, Illinois.

in 1983. Their album, ''Billy Satellite'', was produced by

Don Gehman Don Gehman is an American record producer, engineer, and executive, best known for his work with John Mellencamp and Hootie & the Blowfish. He was one of "the most successful producers of the 1980s and 1990s." As a sound engineer, he also helped ...

and recorded at

Rumbo Recorders Rumbo Recorders was a recording studio in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. History In 1977, Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille, the husband and wife team widely known as Captain & Tennille, began building the studio at 20215 S ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The band toured with

Night Ranger Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco formed in 1979 that gained popularity during the 1980s with a series of albums and singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy have been the band's only constant members, ...

and

Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albu ...

in support of the album, which yielded two minor hits. Although recorded, the band's second album was never released and they were dropped by Capitol. Billy Satellite broke up shortly afterward.

New Frontier

After Billy Satellite, Byrom formed the band

New Frontier The term ''New Frontier'' was used by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election to the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the D ...

which

Glenn Letsch Glenn Letsch (born June 23, 1949) is an American bass guitarist. He was in a Los Angeles band with Mitchell Froom called "Bullet Park" . After Ronnie Montrose produced their demo, he asked Letsch to join his band Gamma, where Letsch became friend ...

(

Gamma Gamma (uppercase , lowercase ; ''gámma'') is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter re ...

) on bass, Marc Nelson on drums, and David Neuhauser on keyboards. The band signed with MIKA Records, an imprint of

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

, and released a self-titled album in 1987. Because all of its members were involved in other bands and projects, this group was short-lived.

Eddie Money

Byrom began writing songs for Eddie Money after the latter had a hit with a cover of "I Wanna Go Back" by Billy Satellite (co-written by Byrom). Money's version of "I Wanna Go Back" received the ASCAP/BMI Song of the Year Award, based on airplay. He also toured with Money's band for several years. Byrom was the producer, engineer, and mixer on Money's 1991 album '' Right Here'', along with providing backing vocals and playing guitar and keyboards. He also co-wrote six of the album's ten tracks, including "Another Nice Day in L.A.," "Fall In Love Again," "Fire and Water," "Prove It Every Night," "She Takes My Breath Away," and "Things Are Much Better Today." He also produced and played guitar on Money's 1992 release '' Unplug It In''.

Big House

Following a gathering of musicians in Bakersfield in the mid-1990s, Byrom founded the country music band, Big House, with David Neuhauser from New Frontier. The duo shared song-writing for the band, and Byrom played guitar and sang lead vocals. Byrom's brother, Tanner, was also a member of Big House, playing the drums. They signed with

MCA Nashville Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, Lost Highway Records, Capitol Records Nashville and EMI Records Nashv ...

and released three albums between 1997 and 2000, including ''Big House'', ''Travelin' Kind'', and ''Woodstock Nation''. Their fourth album, ''Never Ending Train'', was released in 2008. He produced all four of the band's albums. They were nominated for a

Academy of Country Music Award The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, sta ...

for top new vocal duet or group in 1998. They also had four Top 40 Country hits, including "Cold Outside" and "You Ain't Lonely Yet."

The Buckaroos

After the death of his friend

, Byrom was invited to join Owens' band

The Buckaroos The Buckaroos were an American band led by Buck Owens in the 1960s and early 1970s, who, along with Merle Haggard's The Strangers (American band), The Strangers, were involved in the development and presentation of the "Bakersfield sound." Their ...

at The Crystal Palace in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

, fronting the band one weekend a month. Byrom played with The Buckaroos for thirteen years, from 2007 to 2019. Upon leaving the group, he said, 'Thirteen years and time to move on. I'm going to miss those boys and Jennifer eel, backing singer that's for sure. Finally, in the end, it just came down to...time to move on." One of the reasons he quit was because of the increasing success of The Byrom Brothers.

The Road Pilots

In 2012, Byrom formed the Zen Road Pilots with Tom "Fee" Falletti and Ira Walker, former bandmates from Billy Satellite. The band recorded one self-titled album. Changing its name to Monty Byrom and The Road Pilots, this five-piece band played Americana-infused rock and soul in the old-school tradition. They released ''100 Miles South of Eden'' in 2016.

The Byrom Brothers

The Road Pilots became The Byrom Brothers, which includes his brother and Big House drummer Tanner Byrom. Byrom plays guitar and sings lead vocals. The band also includes studio musician Wil Anderson on bass and keyboardist Chris Neufeld, who was a member of The Road Pilots and also played with Eddie Money. Their current release, an album of covers titled ''The Age Of Music'', was released in 2016.

Other

In 1984, he provided backing vocals for

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

on her album, ''Emotion''. The producer of that track was

Don Felder Donald William Felder (born September 21, 1947) is an American musician who was the lead guitarist of the rock band Eagles from 1974 until his termination from the band in 2001. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 with th ...

(

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

), who mentored Byrom, leading to other projects with major acts. As a result, Byrom wrote songs that were recorded by

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on '' Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and t ...

Ace Frehley Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley (; born April 27, 1951) is an American musician, best known as the original lead guitarist and co-founding member of the hard rock band Kiss. He invented the persona of The Spaceman (a.k.a. Space Ace) and played wit ...

Beth Hart Beth Hart (born January 24, 1972) is an American musician from Los Angeles, California. She rose to fame with the release of her 1999 single " LA Song (Out of This Town)" from her second album ''Screamin' for My Supper''. The single was a number ...

The Knack The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, "My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979. History Founding (1977–1978) Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a no ...

Gregg Rolie Gregg Alan Rolie (born June 17, 1947) is an American singer and keyboardist. Rolie served as lead singer of the bands Santana and Journey – both of which he co-founded. He also helmed rock group The Storm, performed in Ringo Starr & His All ...

David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Best known for his wild, energetic stage persona, he was the original lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen across three stints, from 1974 to 1985, in 1996 and again fro ...

Stray Cats Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in t ...

George Thorogood George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the ...

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

Walela Walela is a trio of singers, named for the Cherokee word for ''hummingbird.'' The group was founded in 1996 by sisters Rita Coolidge and Priscilla Coolidge, with Priscilla's daughter Laura Satterfield as the third member. Although the band name is ...

, and Waylon. In 1992, he played guitar and provided backing vocals for

Danny Tate John Daniel "Danny" Tate (born November 10, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter, composer, producer, and former Virgin Records recording artist, best known for penning songs covered by Jeff Healey, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tim M ...

's self-named album. He also played guitar on recordings by J'Son, New Frontier, and

Kathy Troccoli Kathy is a feminine given name. It is a pet form of Katherine, Kathleen and their related forms. Kathy may refer to: In sports *Kathy Bald, Canadian freestyle swimmer *Kathy May, American tennis player *Kathy Radzuweit, German volleyball player ...

. In addition, he produced and played instruments on albums for Jay Boy Adams,

Jared Tyler Jared Tyler, Tulsa Oklahoma, is an American singer-songwriter. He made his national debut with the release of ''Blue Alleluia'', an album produced by Russ Titelman on Walking Liberty Records, New York City. Tyler has been the supporting act for ...

, and Ted Z & the Wranglers. He also worked on numerous movie and film soundtracks, including ''Blackdog'', '' The Kids Are Alright'', ''Made in America'', '' The Slugger’s Wife'', ''

Secret Admirer A secret admirer is an individual who feels adoration, fondness or love for another person without disclosing their identity to that person, and who might send gifts or love letters to their crush. Grade school The goal of a secret admirer is ...

'', and '' Sunset Beat''.

Awards and honors

* Byrom won The Guitar Wars in northern California. * "I Wanna Go Back," a song he co-wrote, won the ASCAP/BMI Song of the Year Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrom, Monty 1958 births Living people People from Corpus Christi, Texas Musicians from Bakersfield, California American rock musicians American country guitarists American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists American producers Songwriters from California