In Elk Park, Montana small hands pry the lid off of a dusty box, unearthed from beneath Mom’s bed. Childlike curiosity places the cassette in the tape player, and a young Tim Montana is rocked back on his heels by the deafening sounds of sirens and Axl Rose screaming “Welcome to the Jungle!” There was no turning back and he found himself nodding along to the Merle Haggard and Ronnie Milsap tunes on the “Marlboro Country” tape he discovered next.

This was the spark that lit the fuse which catapulted Tim Montana from a lantern-lit home in Montana to the bright lights of Hollywood and electrifying the crowds at rock concerts across the country along- side Billy Gibbons and Kid Rock. Life is not without its challenges for the man who strives to honor where he’s from and embrace his life in the spotlight. Balancing life on the road with supporting a family of 5 back home is not an easy row to hoe, but he may just be “Stronger Than You.” While his larger-than-life online and onstage persona draws people in, the depth and discipline he demonstrates behind the scenes is another side of the coin. Whether he’s writing music, starring in a movie or smoking dinner on the Traeger for his family, he’s all in, and probably talkin’ trash.

KATIE HUTTON: What prompted the voice surgery?

TIM MONTANA: All of a sudden I started hitting certain notes and my voice would cut out or squeak like hell. And if I did low-end stuff, my voice would just be non-existent. So I went in and it was a massive polyp that was literally choking out my vocal chords. So they had to go in with a laser and cut it out. It’s a pretty common procedure but I basically got pulled off the road immediately. They asked me to come off in June and I said, I can’t. I just got back to work after a year of not working. I can’t afford to come off the road. So I went for another month and then I went back in and they’re like, you’re not going to have a career if you don’t take care of this.

KATIE HUTTON: That couldn’t have been an easy conversation to have, was it tough to make the decision to have that surgery?

TIM MONTANA: Honestly, I shed a tear. It wasn’t for my voice. It was for the commitments that I made. And there were some venues that didn’t have a lot of money that raised money to have us there. And I remember somebody a week before I announced it said a lot of artists are canceling due to COVID, but you can bet this Montana boy will be here with bells on.. They didn’t know the news yet, that I was in surgery and physically unable to perform. And I’m like, oh my gosh. That broke my heart, you know, just the obligation on people spending their money to get me there and promote the shows and that’s money they can’t get back. I returned the money that I accepted, but they can’t get their marketing money back. So that part hit me hard.

KATIE HUTTON: That’s a lot of pressure. Tell me a little about your background before coming to Nashville. Where did you grow up?

TIM MONTANA: I grew up just north of Butte, Montana, in a little community called Elk Park. I was born in Kalispell even though Butte claims I was born there. But I am the third generation to go to high school there, after my mom and grandma; all of my family is there in Butte.

KATIE HUTTON: Is that a pretty rough town to grow up in?

TIM MONTANA: While I was there, I hated it. But then growing older and leaving, I appreciate it now. And they’ve been my 101 biggest supporters. The people there really take care of their own — they were listening to music and booking me for concerts way before anybody else. That hometown pride and Irish heritage is especially strong there.

KATIE HUTTON: When did you first discover music?

TIM MONTANA: When I was about six, I got my first guitar, but I remember before that I found a tape under my mom’s bed. There was a Marlboro Country tape that you had to smoke a bunch of Marlboro’s to get. The other tape I found was a Guns & Roses tape. It had ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ on one side and ‘Mr. Brownstone’ on the other. That was the first musical moment I can recall is listening to that and being like no way! I still remember that feeling I got when I heard that ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ and all the sirens going off. To this day, I swear to God, I still sound like both of those tapes that I heard, rock meets country, you know. Still drawing from those two influences.

KATIE HUTTON: It’s crazy what you can see as a major turning point in hindsight. Did you take to guitar

pretty quickly or was it like a hard thing to learn to play?

TIM MONTANA: No, I took to it quickly. I still play by ear, I’m not a very technical or music-savvy guy that reads music or anything like that. But I would hear something and immediately be able to find it on the guitar. Now I see my daughter doing that all the time and I’m like, oh no, you need to be a lawyer, or doctor or something, wouldn’t wish this life on anybody.

KATIE HUTTON: So then you went to LA, how old were you when you moved?

TIM MONTANA: I was 18. That was my first experience with a microwave, I’d never had one. You can’t have a microwave on a generator because they pull too much power. So I moved to LA and my roommates are like, dude, what are you doing? Putting plates with forks in the microwave. They thought I was a caveman.

KATIE HUTTON: What were you doing in LA? Were you pursuing music at that time?

TIM MONTANA: Yeah, I got accepted to a school called a Musician’s Institute. When I was 18, it was a pivotal point because I was either going to go into the military or music school. They accepted my audition so I went down there and I lived right on Hollywood Boulevard. I got what I needed out of school, but then I met someone who lived in Nashville and I’m like, there’s the next step, let’s go to Nashville.

KATIE HUTTON: What were those early years like in Nashville?

TIM MONTANA: I got here on my 21st birthday and started to meet musicians and network. Finally I got an offer to be a bouncer at the world famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge, which is where Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash used to play when they were coming up. So I thought that was really cool. I knew if I could get in the door I would make my way to the stage, if I stayed there long enough. I became a bar back, bouncer, and then one night the band didn’t show up and they put me on stage. Tootsie’s was where I met my wife; we got married on that same stage on a Thursday night!

KATIE HUTTON: You got married at Tootsie’s? That’s amazing. Have you stayed in Nashville since then?

TIM MONTANA: Yeah, we do go back to Montana quite a bit. We still have some property up there so we try to split our time as best as we can.

KATIE HUTTON: Tell me about being a dad. Is it hard to balance being a family man with being a rock star?

TIM MONTANA: You miss sports, and weekend stuff just doesn’t exist. I didn’t even know what that kind of life was like because I’ve been touring for so long. Then COVID hit and it was actually a blessing in disguise that I got to spend so much time at home with them and build better relationships with the kids. Being off the road now, it’s like is this what normal parents do? Work 9 - 5? I have a buddy who says, those are muggles. They’re not like us. They’re different creatures.

KATIE HUTTON: What is your routine when you’re home? Are you still songwriting or are you trying to focus on just being a dad?

TIM MONTANA: I do a lot of different content stuff for companies. Writing songs in between, and then trying to play catch up with kids stuff. When I’m home, I try to really surround them and make them feel special. And then I’ve also started bringing ‘em one at a time out on the road with me, not the baby obviously, but my son Dalton’s really taken to that. He likes kicking it with the band and he gets to learn new cuss words. He’s really stoked about it.

KATIE HUTTON: What a cool childhood though!

TIM MONTANA: Just recently Kid Rock asked if my boys would be in his music video. He wanted them to flip off the camera and the younger one wouldn’t do it, which is good. I was like, Hey, I’m not gonna make you do something you don’t want to do. So the camera came by and one of them was holding up a middle finger gold statue. And the other one flipped off the camera with Kid Rock. It was actually pretty funny.

KATIE HUTTON: You must be doing something right, if you tell your kids to flip off the camera and they say no.

TIM MONTANA: Right? I have this theory that I try to expose them to a lot of things now, so they’re not shocked later. Let them be kids and treat that accordingly. But also say, Hey, there’s a big cruel mean world out there, things are crazy. The more they see that in front of them, it seems like they want to be good kids. So hopefully they see enough crazy stuff that they’ll grow up and be completely normal. Like, oh, our dad was a nut job. Not doing that.

KATIE HUTTON: Does being home allow you to be creative, or do you have to get away a little bit?

TIM MONTANA: I come up with a lot of ideas at home and then three or four houses up my neighbor has a little studio. He and I co-wrote 10 of the 16 songs from my new record. So it’s kind of a little neighborhood, family, fun thing we’re doing here with kids playing outside. We’ve got our own little crew over in this little suburb of Nashville.

KATIE HUTTON: You cook at home a lot on the Traeger. Have you always been a good cook or is this a quarantine skill?

TIM MONTANA: No, I’ve always been a pretty good cook. I grew up hunting and we were pretty poor and couldn’t afford to pay people to cut up the meat, so that was my job as a little kid was to pro- cess deer and elk. So I’ve always loved seeing how the meat came off the animal and seeing how my mom would prepare it. And then when I came to Nashville, I started seeing all these neighbors with grills and smokers and they were really serious about it. I started cooking with my neighbors, turning it into a competition with lots of trash-talking. I really got into smoking and Traeger sent me a grill like five or six years ago and I was like, okay, now it’s go time.

KATIE HUTTON: What’s your favorite thing to grill or smoke?

TIM MONTANA: Pulled pork is great and I really love preparing wild game. You get to appreciate that total moment of I harvested this, processed and cooked it. Now we’re going to eat it. I love that. It makes me feel like an accomplished human.

KATIE HUTTON: Do you still hunt a lot?

TIM MONTANA: Yeah. All the time. And I got my daughter to shoot her first deer this last year, which I cannot believe she did. She fought me and fought me but I made her do hunter safety. I tell all my kids, you’re going to harvest one animal, so you know how to do that skill. If you never want to do it again, I’ll never ask you again. So we get up in the deer stand and here comes a deer. And I say, there it is, take your shot when you’re ready. And I didn’t even get the word ‘ready’ out before she squeezed the trigger and that animal dropped literally in his tracks. I look at her and she looks at me and I smile and tears just rolling out of her eyes, then she starts jumping up and down and high fiving, she’s so excited. I put the blood under her eyes like Rambo, and she was so proud cooking the deer for our family too, she asked if she could go again.

KATIE HUTTON: What a special time for you and your family! What else are you working on these days?

TIM MONTANA: During quarantine, I randomly got cast in a Western movie with no prior experience. I hit up Traeger and they sent out a bunch of grills and meat. I made everyone this massive meal onset in an old Western town in Montana. Today, I landed a deal for another big film, but I don’t know if they’re booking me for cooking or they’re booking me for talent. We’ve got half a Holly- wood cooking on a Traeger though! Literally the grill has gotten me into big movies.

KATIE HUTTON: So is the plan to pursue acting now?

TIM MONTANA: Yes but music’s always front and center. I love nothing more on planet earth than to perform live for people. I don’t get anxiety going on stage, but when I have anxiety in life, I think about going on stage and it calms me down because that’s my happy spot. I look back at Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, those guys were doing cowboy movies in the sixties and seventies because it was on brand for these rough and tumble country singers to do Western movies. So I’m kind of following that model and I always try to get my songs in the movies I’m doing, but it’s fun playing a cowboy. I think I was born in the wrong century for sure. I’m just kind of rolling with it. I’ve happened to get some cool roles in some cool films with some cool people and maybe it’s because I’m a good cook.

KATIE HUTTON: So what’s next for you? Music wise, are you heading back out on tour when you’re all healed up?

TIM MONTANA: I’m going to be on the ZZ Top U.S. tour. Billy Gibbons took me under his wing about eight years ago. We wrote a song about our beards, which the Red Sox made their theme song; and now he and I have a food company where we make barbecue sauce, pepper sauce and salsa called Whisker Bomb. He’s become one of my closest friends, it’s cool when your mentor becomes your buddy.

KATIE HUTTON: I’ll have to try that! Is Billy into cooking as well?

TIM MONTANA: He loves cooking. He’s very into Mexican food, he lives off a steady diet of chips and salsa and guacamole. I got him a Traeger at his house in Vegas and he’s getting one in Nashville and he’s participated in some Traeger projects.

KATIE HUTTON: You’ve got an exciting few months coming up.

TIM MONTANA: Between filming and singing, we’ve got a lot going on. I keep telling my wife I want to film as many of these as possible before the first one comes out. Cause I don’t want to see myself suck and then lose the confidence to go to another. I have time for one or two more movies before December 10th and then maybe I’ll retire.

KATIE HUTTON: I think you’re going to be surprised how good you are.

TIM MONTANA: We’ll see. It was quite a learning experience too. Rolling up to a movie set, never done it before, don’t know a soul. I felt like the kid that left Montana at 18 going to Hollywood and I haven’t had that feeling or sensation since. So out of my comfort zone, but also like a cool buzz that you can’t get from any drug on earth. It was cool to watch and learn and be a part of it.

KATIE HUTTON: What are the names of the films?

TIM MONTANA: The Last Son, Murdered at Emigrant Gulch, and the next one I’m going to shoot now is Trailblazers.

KATIE HUTTON: Can’t wait to see them! Well that’s all I have Tim, thanks for making time for this.

TIM MONTANA: Thank you for your time. We had fun. I’m excited about the photos you all got, especially of my smoking guitar on

the Traeger! We did some really funny, goofy things and motorcycle stuff. So it should be pretty cool.