Monty Powell

Looking for Monty Powell?  You don’t have to go too far to hear one of his many hits streaming about or being played by a country superstar at an outdoor summer concert. He is also easily found on any one of the 60 million plus records floating around containing one of his hits.  Powell is a highly decorated songwriter having been named SESAC’s Songwriter of the Year (2009), is a recipient of the prestigious CMA Triple Play Award (2010), has earned seven BMI Millionaire Awards and has over three decades of other songwriting honors, penning hits for Tim McGraw, Billy Ray Cyrus, Diamond Rio, Colin Raye, Brooks & Dunn, Chris Cagle and more.  Additionally, he was a key creative force in establishing the mega success story of Keith Urban by producing Urban’s first American release “The Ranch” and was one of his top collaborators for many years earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for his co-written song with Keith Urban “For You” in the movie “Act of Valor”, as well as a Critics Choice Award nomination for the same.  

Apart from songwriting, Powell is also an accomplished music producer.  He is known for co-producing Diamond Rio’s first three albums (two of which are now platinum and one is gold), as well as Keith Urban’s critically acclaimed band “The Ranch” for Capitol Records.  In 1994, he won a CMA “Album of the Year” award for his production work on “Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles” that supported Don Henley’s Walden Woods Project.  In addition, Powell produced “Working Man’s Blues by Jed Zepplin” (Steve Wariner, Lee Roy Parnell and Diamond Rio) on the highly acclaimed “Mamma’s Hungry Eyes: A Tribute to Merle Haggard”.  In the 2000s he teamed up with Anna Wilson (his wife) and co-produced all five of her studio albums, and together they produced a project that highlights various country, pop and Americana artists for an album project that re-imagines the songs of one of the finest singer/songwriters of our time…the great Billy Joel.  It is called “A Nashville State of Mind” and features Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Lady Antebellum, Willie Nelson and Tim McGraw to name a few.

Over his 40-year career, Powell also has held roles in artist management.  His clients have included Muzik Mafia member, James Otto (Warner Brothers), Trent Tomlinson (Lyric Street) and Chuck Wicks (RCA), all who steadily rose to country music stardom under his watch.

In the midst of all the various hats Monty wears these days, he also finds time to donate his talent to many charitable causes like St. Jude, T.J Martell, and Habitat for Humanity, but the cause closest to his heart is the Alzheimer’s Association.  Powell’s father died from an early on-set of Alzheimer’s, so Monty decided to use music as his weapon to fight this terrible disease.  He took action by creating an initiative called Better Start Livin’ that was inspired by his mega hit “Days Go By”, penned with superstar Keith Urban.  Together, for the first time in concert, Powell was joined by Urban, Anna Wilson and rising star, Matt Jenkins at the Cobb Energy Center in Atlanta, GA, where they raised over $250,000 in a single evening to fund Alzheimer’s research.

Currently, alongside his wife Anna Wilson, Powell spends his time co-writing, producing and performing in an Americana duo they have founded together called Troubadour 77, that pays homage to the 70s Laurel Canyon SoCal sound that so heavily influenced them.  As they drive forward, Powell states, “We are performing original music that is reminiscent of the classic singer-songwriters that helped define our generation.”

Monty currently splits his time between Nashville, the mountains of Colorado and the Florida Keys and can often be found golfing, chasing fish with a fly rod on the gulf coast or skiing down the slopes in Colorado.