Album Notes

Originally from Columbia, South Carolina, Jack Montgomery began studying guitar at age thirteen. He had his first professional gig in 1966 and soon, with two high school friends, formed the band known as "Crossfire." Crossfire appeared on several local television programs and regularly played gigs in and around Columbia and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina until it dissolved in 1971. During college, Jack worked as a solo performer in lounges owned by the Best Western chain of hotels until 1977. After college, he played with several acoustic groupings in South Carolina and Virginia specializing in "ole time" and folk music. Jack retired from music until recently when he joined the folk band "Lost River" in 2000. He regularly performs locally in the Bowling Green area and also in Nashville, TN where he sings and plays guitar, harmonica, mandolin and bass.

While in college, Jack began to develop an interest in world religions, focusing on Hinduism, mysticism and traditional folk religions. He did considerable fieldwork with traditional healers during this time. As a result, he is currently under contract for a book entitled " American Shamans: journeys with traditional healers" to be published in 2003 by BUSCA Publishing and will recount his adventures with these very special people. He currently works as a librarian at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green Kentucky.

Musically, Jack is interested in Celtic, contemporary folk, classic rock and writes his own songs and poetry. Jack has a passion for discovering older material and giving it a new musical life. "Onward to Avalon" is a body of musical work about the journey to the spiritual side of life. This is the world of dreams, hopes, of myth and archetypes. It is about personal beliefs gleaned from the experience of the divine in and through many venues. It is about need, my need to reach beyond the intellect to the heart where still lives the miraculous, the wondrous, as well as the capacity to love. As sophisticated and modern as we have become in our post-modern world, I feel we must also remain spiritually connected to the childlike sense of wonder and delight most easily revealed in nature.

At once, both a loving and cruel mother figure, the experience of the divine in nature was well known to our distant ancestors. "Onward to Avalon" is a musical exploration and a celebration of that experience. The title refers to a sacred island mentioned in the Arthurian legends. Avalon was the place where Arthur was taken after his death to await his resurrection. This work is about that desire for spiritual resurrection in all of us.