Billy Montana is a multi-platinum, award winning songwriter with five number one songs to his name. He was raised in rural upstate New York and was inspired as a teenager to pick up a guitar by his musician father. Billy graduated from Cornell University and was pursuing a career in agriculture when he was persuaded to trade the life of a farmer for a record deal with Warner Brothers Nashville. His band, Billy Montana and the Long Shots released three singles that charted on Billboard’s Hot Country and one that broke the top 40. Billy signed his second deal with Magnatone Records and released his debut album, No Yesterday, which brought him critical acclaim. In the late 90’s, Billy transitioned full time into songwriting and signed a publishing deal with Curb Publishing. Since signing with Curb, he has penned songs for Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, Parker McCollum, Eli Young Band, Martina McBride and Trace Adkins, just to name a few.
In 2002, Billy experienced his first number one song at radio, his first Grammy nominated song, and his first ACM nominated song, with Joe Dee Messina’s “Bring On the Rain.” Billy earned his second number one hit with Sara Evans’ “Suds In The Bucket;” the most played female country song of 2004. In 2007, Billy was a major player in the comeback of country radio’s king, Garth Brooks. His song “More Than A Memory” was released by Garth and became the only song in the history of country radio to debut at number one on the charts. In 2012 Billy achieved his fourth number one with Lee Brice’s, “Hard to Love,” which has become one of the biggest songs of Lee’s career. In 2019 Billy achieved Top 5 success with Jon Pardi’s “Night Shift.” In 2021 Billy rang the bell again with Lee Brice’s “Memory I Don’t Mess With.”
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