Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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| Montana Young to play Saturday |
Sixteen-year-old fiddle player Montana Young practices at Woodall’s Music Shop in Collinsville. She will perform Saturday with Amy Stuart and Dean Smith during a concert at Martinsville High School. The Whitetop Mountain Band also will play at the concert, which is sponsored by the Lions Club and the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. Tickets are $5. (Bulletin photo by Kim Barto) |
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
By KIM BARTO - Bulletin Staff Writer
After years of wowing crowds and winning contests with her bluegrass fiddle skills, Montana Young is ready to mix things up.
Playing traditional bluegrass put the Patrick County musician on the map before she reached middle school. Now at age 16, Montana said she plans to reveal some additions to her repertoire when she takes the stage Saturday night in a concert at Martinsville High School auditorium.
“I’ve done the same thing for so long, I wanted to do something different,” she said.
Not only will she perform some old-timey tunes, Montana said, “I’m going to try to do some things kind of out of the ordinary for me,” such as playing Janis Joplin songs on the fiddle.
Also, she said, “I’m trying to improvise on guitar. That’s hard.”
Montana has been taking guitar lessons from music teacher Dean Smith at Woodall’s Music Shop. Smith will perform with her and Amy Stuart at 6 p.m. Saturday.
They will open for Whitetop Mountain Band in a performance presented by the Martinsville Lions Club and Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp.’s tourism office. Tickets are $5 and are available in advance at Woodall’s Music and the Martinsville-Henry County Visitor Center.
“Montana’s well-versed in all types of music. She is very capable in other areas,” Smith said.
In 11 years since she first picked up the violin, Montana has toured as far as New York and Scotland, opened shows for bluegrass legends and entertained the Queen of England when the monarch visited Richmond.
On her trip to Scotland in May 2006, Montana played 14 shows with a troupe of Crooked Road musicians as ambassadors of Appalachian music.
“That was a lot of fun,” she said. “I liked seeing all the castles, and I liked the way people talked. The food was a little weird, though.”
At one memorable show in Scotland, she said, “this lady came up to the stage, and she had tears in her eyes. She took her jewelry off and gave it to me,” saying she was touched by Montana’s playing.
“I want to move people the way other musicians have moved me,” Montana said. “It’s crazy how powerful a song is, how it can make you feel different things.”
However, she put down her fiddle for three years “because I was just so burned out,” she said.
Looking back on her career so far, Montana shook her head and exclaimed, “Man, I’m getting old!”
Her interest in playing music was piqued at age 5, when she was mesmerized by a girl performing at the Galax Old Fiddlers Convention.
“The crowd was going wild for her,” Montana recalled. “I just knew I had to do that. I wanted the crowd to go wild for me, too.”
She “kept asking for lessons” from her parents, Janet Foley of Woolwine and Jeffery Young of Bassett, who finally relented and bought her a violin. “Violin” and “fiddle” refer to the same instrument, just with different types of music.
Montana began classical violin lessons and took up bluegrass shortly after. Soon, she was taking home prizes of her own at Galax and other fiddle competitions.
“I always loved Galax,” she said. “I like those times when the crowd goes wild. It’s great to have a crowd that’s hot.”
Galax was where Montana met Debbie Robinson, now the EDC tourism director, who called her “a very gifted musician.”
“She’s fascinated me with being able to listen to a tune and play it immediately,” Robinson said of Montana. Not only did her performances please the crowds at Galax, Robinson added, “she was so embraced by the other musicians there.”
At age 10, Montana studied with fiddler Buddy Pendleton of Woolwine, who has played with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, through the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program.
“It was a nice experience. I was glad to get some time with Buddy,” Montana said. “He taught me some of his best tunes.”
The last time she competed at Galax, Montana said she was amazed to place fifth, while Pendleton placed fourth. It was her second time participating in the adult competition.
“I like it ’cause it’s a challenge,” she said.
Some of the songs Montana learned as Pendleton’s apprentice are featured on her first and only CD, “Fiddling Up a Storm,” released when she was “12 or 13, maybe.”
“I did the whole thing in two days. I was exhausted,” she said. “It was a good experience, but not one of my best.”
As for releasing a second CD, she said, “I’d really like that, but I don’t know when I’ll get to it.”
Montana said she feels more at ease playing in front of a large crowd than in front of a few people. “I don’t know why,” she said.
She said she does not have a favorite song, but added, “I really like songs in minor keys.” Some of her favorites to perform are “Florida Blues” and “Say, Old Man, Can You Play the Fiddle?”
Montana also started listening to rock ’n’ roll in recent years, “and I can’t get enough of it,” she said, naming Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and “just about any classic rock band” among her favorites.
“Music seemed to be so much better back then,” she said. “Now, you turn on the radio, and it all sounds the same.”
In her music, Montana said she wants to “take a little bit from everyone ... kind of incorporate it and make a new style.”
“I’m just trying to play all the different kinds of music I can,” she said, including learning guitar licks on her Gibson Les Paul, but “fiddle is my main priority.”
In years past, Montana performed every weekend in the spring and summer, but she will be cutting back on her schedule to focus on school.
“I really want to be able to balance it. I really want to get my schooling, but I really want to get out there and play,” she said.
When she enters her junior year at Patrick County High School this fall, she will participate in the D-Squared program, earning her high school diploma and an associate degree from Patrick Henry Community College at the same time.
Montana practices her music every day, but when not playing the fiddle or guitar, she likes creating other forms of art. She will attend the Governor’s School in theater for three weeks this summer at U.Va.-Wise, and she also draws, mainly in pencil.
“I like to draw people,” she said. A portrait she drew of Janis Joplin recently placed in the top 15 entries in a National Beta Club art contest.
In the future, Montana is setting her sights on studying music in college.
“I definitely want to go to college, but I think I’d be the happiest I’d ever be touring,” she said. “I want to play with awesome musicians. I want to meet the craziest, artsiest people I can.” |
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