Carol Montag

Photo

Bio

Carol was born in Ames, Iowa to a master well digger and stay at home mom. The family home was filled with music and her mother made sure that Carol and her four siblings took piano lessons. She began singing and performing music at an early age in church, where she grew to love the traditional hymns and liturgical songs. Always imagining she was on a grand stage, she sang and danced most of the way through her early childhood. In addition to her piano lessons, Carol studied flute during middle school and in high school, she learned to play her sister’s guitar by ear while listening to such folk legends as Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, and Joan Baez. Carol was motivated to save money and by her senior year she purchased her first guitar.

Attending college at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa Carol played with several acoustic bands. After relocating to Cedar Rapids, Iowa she landed her first paid gigs at a local Mexican restaurant. Performances at colleges, coffeehouses, house concerts, churches, music festivals, and live radio shows were soon to follow. Carol has opened for, or appeared with, such greats as Arlo Guthrie, Tom Paxton, Kenny Rankin, John Stewart and Three Dog Night to name just a few. She’s recorded four solo albums including 1984’s Song for Carrie, 1987’s White, 2001’s Marigolds, and 2012’s Second Sermon. She’s also recorded two Christmas albums with the trio Tribute.

In the early 1990s, Carol was commissioned by Ballet Iowa to write songs for a ballet about a farm family in crisis. The work was titled “Swallows Return in the Spring.” Carol toured the midwest performing live with the ballet company. While performing at a private party in Washington, DC, Carol was invited to sing at the 2010 World Food Prize Laureate Award Ceremony by the World Food Prize president and former ambassador to Cambodia, Kenneth Quinn. Past performers at the ceremony include such notables as John Denver, Ray Charles, and Simon Estes. As a fixture on the Iowa music scene, Carol continues to both record new material and perform on a regular basis. Much of Carol’s great body of work is now available from Fervor Records.

Carol Montag

Photo

Bio

Albums

Pin It on Pinterest