jessielmontague

Rhinebeck, NY, USA

On Unhooked, her first collection of new music in more than a decade, the New York-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Jessie Lee Montague delivers music that is rich in sonic and emotional contrasts. Over seven tracks, Montague’s ripped, fiery voice and deeply physical lead guitar dance over her own electronic arrangements and elegant grooves courtesy of bassist Desiree Williams and drummer Nick Parker. The personal, polemic, and spiritual mingle freely in her impassioned lyrics. In its earth-meets-ether drama and friction, Unhooked evokes early Daniel Lanois productions and other touchstones of the progressive singer-songwriter scene of the ‘80s and ‘90s, when traditional song and experimental sound interacted in new ways. Which is exactly the milieu from which Jessie Lee Montague comes. A fixture on the downtown New York City scene of the ‘90s and ‘00s with her band JAKE, Montague performed with (and was mentored by) such roots iconoclasts as Luka Bloom