Falling in love with music when he first heard Eric Clapton, Coco Montoya went on to follow in his heroes' footsteps, playing with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers and becoming a well-respected guitarist and songwriter on the blues rock scene for over 30 years.

Growing up in Los Angeles, he initially started out playing drums in local R&B bands and backed Big Joe Turner before being recruited by legendary bluesman Albert Collins in the mid-1970s. Although he was still drumming, Collins became a mentor and father figure to Montoya and after five years of watching and learning from the 'Master of the Telecaster', his own guitar technique began to take shape. As trends changed and funk and disco music became popular, Montoya took a regular job and only jammed in local bars at weekends.

A twist of fate saw John Mayall turn up at one of the clubs Montoya played, resulting in him joining a reformed line-up of the Bluesbreakers - a band which had previously been a home to not only Clapton but also guitar icons Peter Green, Harvey Mandel and Mick Taylor. He spent ten years touring with the band and also played on a record by the Cate Brothers before setting up his own group and releasing debut album 'Gotta Mind to Travel' in 1995. Follow ups 'Ya Think I'd Know Better' and 'Just Let Go' further honed his smooth, soulful style and, despite his self-taught, unorthodox technique, his reputation among the blues rock aficionados was on the rise. He signed with Chicago label Alligator Records for the record 'Suspicion' in 2000 and continued to be a hard touring bluesman, who has played with BB King, Keb Mo and Walter Trout. He released his eighth studio album 'Hard Truth' in 2017.

Coco Montoya

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