Monty grew up and attended school at Miller Grove ISD in southern Hopkins County.  His older brother Stevie owned a guitar, and as a kid, Monty would sometimes sneak into his brother’s room and try to play the guitar like Johnny Cash. Obviously, he learned a few chords because at age 20, he purchased his own guitar from the local pawn shop and started learning his favorite songs by watching country performers on MTV.  Monty had started working for the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Department right after high school, and ended up spending 6 years there. He later transferred to the Sulphur Springs Police Department and spent 24 and 1/2 years there before retiring as an Investigator, ending his career in law enforcement at that time. Then, Monty was hired by the SSISD Police force and now really loves this new aspect of law enforcement because it keeps him in close touch with the kids of our city. As a Christian family man, he feels he has found his niche with a career that lets him  “give back” to the community.

His other love, as always, is traditional country music. Today, there are various sub-genres in country music like red dirt, outlaw, alternative and progressive. Monty says those are all OK, but they are not “him”. He likes to perform the music of Merle Haggard, George Jones, Buck Owens and Johnny Cash best, and makes it a point to surround himself with musicians who can help him reproduce those sounds. “People still love this music and like to go to the places where it’s played, like the Reilly Springs Jamboree and some of the other country Oprys in Texas.