At 72, touring isn’t getting any easier for blues guitarist Coco Montoya, but it’s still rewarding.

“It’s definitely not gonna make me a millionaire,” he said Tuesday in a phone call from Charlotte, N.C., “but it is something that I definitely love what I’m doing.”

That love for the road will be evident April 25, when Montoya arrives at the Hard Rock Cafe Pittsburgh for a show, with Lone Crow Rebellion and Tim Vitullo opening.

Montoya is touring in support of his latest album, “Writing on the Wall,” which came out Sept. 1, 2023, on Alligator Records. It was nominated for best blues rock album at the 2024 Blues Music Awards, competing with releases from Ana Popovic, Joe Bonamassa, Mike Zito/Albert Castiglia and Nick Schnebelen.

Montoya said he’s appreciative of the nomination, but it’s not how he judges his success.

“As far as trophies and things like that, I don’t have a lot of interest in those things,” he said. “The reward for me, there’s nothing that beats an audience that really enjoyed the show. I don’t think there is anything that beats that at all. That’s my reward. That is my immediate gratification, my award.”

The high-energy album showcases rockers and ballads, with highlights like the shuffling “You Got Me (Where You Want Me),” the slide guitar-driven “A Chip and Chair” and the heartfelt but hard-hitting “I Was Wrong.”

For the first time, Montoya brought in his veteran touring band — keyboardist Jeff Paris, bassist Nathan Brown and drummer Rena Beavers — to record this album instead of relying on session musicians. With Paris (who’s written songs recorded by Mr. Big, Vixen, Slash’s Snakepit and The Pointer Sisters) serving as a co-producer, the album also features veteran slide guitar player Lee Roy Parnell and singer/guitarist Ronnie Baker Brooks, among others.

“We’re so used to playing together. It was just a more comfortable fit, easy to work with, we knew each other so well,” Montoya said. “So it made sense to just go that route. … We all know each other’s pluses and minuses and knew how to direct music in a certain way, in a certain flow, and that’s what made it really memorable for all of us.”

• Family celebrates Henry Mancini's legacy on what would have been his 100th birthday • Interview: Guitarist Selwyn Birchwood nominated for 4 Blues Music Awards • 2024 Pittsburgh area concert calendar

From hearing Montoya play, it would be difficult to guess that he actually started his music career as a drummer. His first big break came as a drummer for blues guitarist Albert Collins, known as the “Master of the Telecaster.” And then he spent 10 years on guitar with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Playing with those two blues legends shaped and influenced him tremendously.

”Oh God, leaps and bounds. Those two unbelievable, very fortunate things in my life, (playing) with John Mayall and Albert Collins,” he said. “They took me places that I would have never seen without them.”

Montoya received a blues drumming education in his tenure with Collins, but when he left that band he found that Top 40 music had evolved into disco and Tower of Power “intricate stuff.”

“My limitations as a drummer were quite obvious to me,” he said, “so I thought I was completely out of the music business.”

After getting a day job, Montoya upgraded from the acoustic guitar he’d played on the side to an electric guitar with an amp. Playing at weekly jams led to his big break when Mayall happened to be at one of the sessions.

“They got my number and called me up and brought me back into the music business as a guitar player. So I’ve had two careers,” he said. “You know, you get a phone call from John Mayall, and for me in my era, that’s like getting a call from the Beatles. Eric Clapton was in his band, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, all my idols, and now he wants me to play guitar in the band? It was pretty amazing.”

As a self-taught musician, Montoya remembered trying to interpret albums, particularly “Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton” from 1966.

“So you would get a record — I remember getting the Bluesbreakers album with Eric Clapton — and every guitar player ever known: ‘Yeah, how many of those did you wear out?’ Because you were trying to skip the needle back and find out what Eric was doing and trying to see if you can find out how he did that. But that’s how you had to do it, so you destroy the record eventually. I’m sure I bought about 10 or 15 of that particular album.”

Montoya also credited Johnny Otis, who had a TV show that would feature a variety of musicians, from country to jazz to soul to blues.

“(Otis) would just really mix it up,” he said. “and you’d just get all these influences, which I think was just the healthiest dirt to plant a seed in.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)