Bozeman Magazine

One thing that’s true about America no matter where you go: Hard work eventually pays off. Just ask Tim Montana and The Shrednecks, who recently commenced a springtime run as the opening act for their fellow mostly bearded rock compatriots ZZ Top (with a few headlining gigs of their own smattered in along the way for good measure). “I’ve been told I’m open and I’m vulnerable, but I’m just authentic,” Montana observes. “I’ve also been told ‘no’ all my life, but I’ve got thick skin. I’ll keep trucking. You’re not going to stop me. Tell me I can’t, and I will.” It’s easy to see why Montana’s music connects with so many people far and wide. From the rip-roaring, swamp-rockin’ vibe of “Fifty Fifty” (which also features ZZ Top major domo Billy F. Gibbons on guitar) to the head-turning, fist-pumping stomp of “Gravel Road” to the down-home patriotic values checklist for “Things That I Love,” it’s clear this Big Sky Country native has only just begun. Of the latter track, Montana says, “It’s probably my favorite song I’ve written. That’s the story of my life right there.” Montana’s passion for pursuing his sacred sonic mission has not gone unnoticed by his fellow musicians. “Tim is the real thing,” says Gibbons, who’s co-written quite a few tunes with the man, including the heady, good times fan favorite “Weed and Whiskey” and the self-explanatory “This Beard Came Here to Party.” (More on the pull of “This Beard” in a bit.) “He’s a little bit country with lots of hard rocks — or maybe he’s a rocker in touch with some serious country roots.” A prime example of a “no” having fueled the country-rocking singer/songwriter’s creative spark came during a meeting where, as Montana recalls, “one label executive told me I might find a hit someday, but there’s no way I was going to write it on my own. That was on a New Year’s Eve. Instead of going out to all the parties, I skipped them, and went, ‘I’m going to write a song on my own, and it’s going to be great.’ And then I wrote ‘Low Class.’ Well, I don’t know if that song’s great, but it’s pretty good.” (Tim is being his naturally humble self here, but the fact is, the honky-tonkin’ manifesto deemed as being “Low Class” is a pretty damn great song.) Montana’s path to musical salvation was no easy road to hoe. “I grew up living off the grid in a trailer in remote Montana,” Tim recounts. “We didn’t have TV, and we didn’t have electricity — we had lanterns and candles. But at the early age of 6, I got a guitar, and that was my only escape.”