A fair-sized crowd had turned up at the Borderline this night to see the Americana singer-songwriter Kevin Montgomery with his star-studded group Pettibone, comprising Pat Buchanan on lead guitar and, on loan from the Mavericks, Robert Reynolds on bass guitar and Paul Deakin on drums.

But first up on stage was Montgomery's friend and fellow songwriter Jeff Finlin, who did a short set blending a mixture of alternative country and folk with blues and rock.   Accompanied only with an acoustic guitar, he was aided at times by Buchanan when extra weight to a song was needed, as with the hard rocking "Goodbye is Just A Freight Train Coming".

The audience only had to wait a few minutes after Finlin's set before Kevin Montgomery and Pettibone took to the stage, and started with the folky "Another Long Story" before raising the tempo considerably for "Let's All Go To California".   Deakin then began an almost military drumbeat which led into the very haunting "Visions of White" and then the even darker "I Wish I Were Blind".

Kevin then decided to liven the place up from the black mood of the previous ballads and he quickly accomplished this with the pacey "Tennessee Girl".   Pat Buchanan then took over lead vocals on a MOD-styled tune reminiscent of the Jam ["Genius of the Obvious"].  The reins were then handed back to Montgomery for "Wishing", which was written by his father with Buddy Holly, and was sung in the same style as the great rock 'n' roll legend.

Throughout the whole show, which at times bordered strongly on southern rock, we were treated to some expert musicianship, none more so than the perfect beat and rhythm of Paul Deakin, plus some amazing guitar licks from Buchanan.

The temperature in the club definitely began to rise at an alarming rate as they carried on rocking with "Stumbled" and the country fun song "Melrose", before turning cajun for the Montgomery/Reynolds duet "The Cajun Song"

Jeff Finlin then joined them on stage to sing the '60s styled "Loving Cup".  Then it was Reynolds' turn again to rock out with the Tom Petty classic "American Girl", which half way through changed into the Rolling Stones' "Not Fade Away".

This truly magnificent concert was brought to its conclusion with the beautiful ballad "Fear Nothing".   And after such an amazing set, Kevin Montgomery should almost certainly fear nothing.   This gig definitely gets top marks for quality and entertainment.

David Knowles
Country Music International
October 2000