MUSIC

Cypress Creek FACE presents John Michael Montgomery at 8:00 PM, Saturday, September 17, 2011.

John Michael Montgomery has turned an uncanny ability to relate to fans into one of country music's most storied careers. Behind the string of hit records, the roomful of awards and the critical and fan accolades that have defined his phenomenal success lies a connection that goes beyond his undeniable talent and his proven knack for picking hits. Since the days when Life's A Dance turned him from an unknown artist into a national star, John Michael’s rich baritone has carried that most important of assets--believability. Few artists in any genre sing with more heart than this handsome Kentucky-born artist.

It is readily apparent in his love songs that he has set the standard for a generation. Songs like I Swear, I Love the Way You Love Me and I Can Love You Like That still resonate across the landscape - pop icon and country newcomer Jessica Simpson even cited I Love The Way You Love Me as an influence in a recent interview. It is similarly apparent in the 2004 hit Letters From Home, one of the most moving tributes to the connection between soldiers and their families ever recorded, and in The Little Girl, a tale of redemption that plumbs both the harrowing and the uplifting.

Other hits have followed steadily with songs like Rope The Moon, If You've Got Love, No Man's Land, Cowboy Love, As Long As I Live, Friends and How Was I To Know establishing him as one of the elite acts of this era. He received the CMA Horizon award and was named the ACM's Top New Vocalist, setting off a long series of awards that included the CMA's Single and Song of the Year, Billboard's Top Country Artist and a Grammy nomination. Asked what he thinks gave him the edge in a career that calls millions but gives stardom to just a few, he pauses, then thinks back to the legacy of his parents."I reckon it was good genes and good blood," he says with a smile. Few who know the depth and breadth of his own growing legacy would disagree.