August 16, 2024 • 5 mins
Shelby Mitchell talks with South Alabama native, now Nashville songwriter, Monty Criswell. He is coming home to Mobile, Alabama for a special event "An Evening with Monty Criswell," at St. Paul's Episcopal School.
Monty Criswell is a thirty-one year veteran hit songwriter with over 300 songs recorded, hundreds of millions of streams, views, and records sold. His career is decorated with multiple Grammy and CMA nominations, and he has had at least one #1 song in each of the last three decades. In this unique one-man show, Monty combines the traditional songwriters-in-the-round format with motivational speaking, taking the audience on an inspiring journey of his career and life.
Event Details
Date: August 22, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM Concert
Location: Monte L. Moorer Theatre
Monty Criswell is a thirty-one year veteran hit songwriter with over 300 songs recorded, hundreds of millions of streams, views, and records sold. His career is decorated with multiple Grammy and CMA nominations, and he has had at least one #1 song in each of the last three decades. In this unique one-man show, Monty combines the traditional songwriters-in-the-round format with motivational speaking, taking the audience on an inspiring journey of his career and life.
Event Details
Date: August 22, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM Concert
Location: Monte L. Moorer Theatre
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am excited to speak to somebody who is pretty amazing,
and I think it's been I don't know, it's been
a long time since I've talked to him Monty Criswell
or is that Monte cris Well. How do I say
it correctly?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Sorry, I will answer to either one. I think I'll work,
so I swear.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I think we've talked to you several times because I've
known you for a while. But back when, yeah, yeah,
back when we did the morning show one hundred years
ago with my old friend Dan. We had you on
when you had like one, maybe two songs out in
the world of country. And now look at your success.
You've written songs for like George Straight To, Eric Church,
Scotty McCreary, Trace Adkins, and many, many, many more. Monte
(00:41):
Criswell from Mobile, Alabama. Originally, I think you are amazing
and I'll stop talking now you say something.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
No, Yes, my dad says that a blind hog will
find an acre and every now and then, so I
thanked my whole career on that cloche. It has worked.
It's worked now, it's just I've been doing it years
as a full time professional songwriter. And wow, you guys
from my hometown radio station. You always have been growing up.
That's how I fell in love of country music. And
(01:08):
I remember listening to Bill, you know, for a lot
of years. I think you guys have been together. Yeah,
now he's retired and you got some big shoes to feel.
But you can do it. If anybody could.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Do it, it'll be your student.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Great and well, you're most welcome. And you go to Nashville,
you chase down this stream, you ride the highs and
lows and all that kind of stuff, and you have
all these wonderful stories that show up behind these songs.
These songs come from like crazy, crazy places. And we
do a lot of these corporate right around you know,
where you go across from one coast to the other
(01:40):
to these corporate events and private events, and everybody comes
around and says the same thing, We love the stories
behind the songs. I do a lot of those. But
we had like a crazy chaotic last year in twenty
twenty three, and I went and had a cold mosby
last year and they found a two inch mass in
my cold and it turned out to be late state
three colon cancer.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Ed. The good news is we were able to beat it.
It had not spread. Wow, but we still had to
go through a process. We went through eight rounds of chemo.
I did a five and a half hour surgery. They
took a foot of cold and thirty four lengphonos just
to be on the safe side.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
It turns out that all the tissue was cleaning clear
on surgical pathology and that was great. So we're kind
of starting starting over. So a lot of people through
that process said, well, is there a way for you
to do some kind of like life coach motivational speech?
And I'm like, you know, I've never thought about that,
And about the eighth person that said it to me,
I started thinking about it. So what we did is
(02:38):
we took that kind of this is how I became
a songwriter, These are the stories behind the hits, and
this is how we overcame adversity last year at an
elite level. Still got seventeen songs recorded last year and
had two number ones. Had a number one on handling
You and Parker McCollum the week we started chemo, which
was a really really weird experience. So we've got this
kind of motivational life coach wrapped up in a songwriter
(03:01):
around template and we're going to go live with it
really January, but we wanted to practice a little bit
so that they were like, we are you going to
try it out before we jump off the plane. I
was like, yeah, we really need to. And I said, well,
you know the best place to do it? I think
I want to go home and do it. Yeah, And
so we were kind of like nosing around, and finally
(03:22):
I said, you know what, let me just reach out
to Saint Paul's. That's where I went first few years
of high school to set some in the last two
years to Saint Paul's. Okay, and they hit me back.
They've been great partners. They're like, we're in, we want
to do this. We're going to try it out at
Saint Paul's and we're going to take all the proceeds
and donate it to the fine arts program at Saint Paul's.
Because Saint Paul's academically for me, they kind of changed
(03:45):
my whole life and taught me so much about how
to stand on a platform and jump off of it
with a leap of faith and have the right academic
background behind that. So maybe, just maybe there's somebody else
around that has those same kind of dreams and wants
to do the same kind of things that I wanted to,
and maybe this will help you give them a platform.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
That's wonderful. First of all, I mean, what a great
school and what a great program they have, and you know,
you're giving back to the community here, and I think
that is absolutely wonderful. And second of all, I mean,
I don't think you need a test run. Although I'm
glad you're doing this, I mean, I think it's gonna
be just freaking fantastic because it's gonna be a lot
of fun. Yeah, I mean, you're doing it almost like
(04:23):
a like an in the round. But I mean, I love, love,
love hearing the songwriters themselves do their own songs, just
because it's from your point of view, and it is
something that it's so different and unique when it comes
from your point of view. But it's just gonna be
you by yourself, correct a one man show.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
It's just a one man show and a lot of talking.
But there will be a lot of songs played. Some
of the songs will play the whole song, some will
kind of play in parts. There's one that that I'll do,
which will be like Jesus does that Eric Church recorded
Oh Yes from the Chief album Bet Yes. I'll kind
of show you exactly how it was written and how
it was pieced together. I'm sitting at the piano, but
that cool. Yeah, And we'll tell some funny stories. I
(05:05):
have a lot of self deprecating humor. I don't mind
telling on myself. We'll make you laugh, We're gonna break
your heart. We'll give you hope, love, it will inspire you,
and maybe along the way I might save a few lives,
which would be the coup de gras of it all.
Because if I can get you to go get a
cold moss B forty five instead of fifty four like
I did, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I can
(05:25):
save you a lot of trouble and the gonna if
there's any like GI doctors, anybody there that's gonna be
there that night, bring some business cards with you. I
can probably feel your.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Dance card for I think that's a wonderful idea. God
bless you for doing this, and I think, you know,
maybe God is using.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
You for for this, and I think that's huge percent.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah, all right, MONI Chris well, thank you so much
from a Satsuma slash mobile. Yeah, we appreciate it. We're
so excited for your success and we're glad you know
that you're doing this event and again. More details at
ninety five KSJ dot com
I am excited to speak to somebody who is pretty amazing,
and I think it's been I don't know, it's been
a long time since I've talked to him Monty Criswell
or is that Monte cris Well. How do I say
it correctly?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Sorry, I will answer to either one. I think I'll work,
so I swear.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I think we've talked to you several times because I've
known you for a while. But back when, yeah, yeah,
back when we did the morning show one hundred years
ago with my old friend Dan. We had you on
when you had like one, maybe two songs out in
the world of country. And now look at your success.
You've written songs for like George Straight To, Eric Church,
Scotty McCreary, Trace Adkins, and many, many, many more. Monte
(00:41):
Criswell from Mobile, Alabama. Originally, I think you are amazing
and I'll stop talking now you say something.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
No, Yes, my dad says that a blind hog will
find an acre and every now and then, so I
thanked my whole career on that cloche. It has worked.
It's worked now, it's just I've been doing it years
as a full time professional songwriter. And wow, you guys
from my hometown radio station. You always have been growing up.
That's how I fell in love of country music. And
(01:08):
I remember listening to Bill, you know, for a lot
of years. I think you guys have been together. Yeah,
now he's retired and you got some big shoes to feel.
But you can do it. If anybody could.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Do it, it'll be your student.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Great and well, you're most welcome. And you go to Nashville,
you chase down this stream, you ride the highs and
lows and all that kind of stuff, and you have
all these wonderful stories that show up behind these songs.
These songs come from like crazy, crazy places. And we
do a lot of these corporate right around you know,
where you go across from one coast to the other
(01:40):
to these corporate events and private events, and everybody comes
around and says the same thing, We love the stories
behind the songs. I do a lot of those. But
we had like a crazy chaotic last year in twenty
twenty three, and I went and had a cold mosby
last year and they found a two inch mass in
my cold and it turned out to be late state
three colon cancer.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Ed. The good news is we were able to beat it.
It had not spread. Wow, but we still had to
go through a process. We went through eight rounds of chemo.
I did a five and a half hour surgery. They
took a foot of cold and thirty four lengphonos just
to be on the safe side.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
It turns out that all the tissue was cleaning clear
on surgical pathology and that was great. So we're kind
of starting starting over. So a lot of people through
that process said, well, is there a way for you
to do some kind of like life coach motivational speech?
And I'm like, you know, I've never thought about that,
And about the eighth person that said it to me,
I started thinking about it. So what we did is
(02:38):
we took that kind of this is how I became
a songwriter, These are the stories behind the hits, and
this is how we overcame adversity last year at an
elite level. Still got seventeen songs recorded last year and
had two number ones. Had a number one on handling
You and Parker McCollum the week we started chemo, which
was a really really weird experience. So we've got this
kind of motivational life coach wrapped up in a songwriter
(03:01):
around template and we're going to go live with it
really January, but we wanted to practice a little bit
so that they were like, we are you going to
try it out before we jump off the plane. I
was like, yeah, we really need to. And I said, well,
you know the best place to do it? I think
I want to go home and do it. Yeah, And
so we were kind of like nosing around, and finally
(03:22):
I said, you know what, let me just reach out
to Saint Paul's. That's where I went first few years
of high school to set some in the last two
years to Saint Paul's. Okay, and they hit me back.
They've been great partners. They're like, we're in, we want
to do this. We're going to try it out at
Saint Paul's and we're going to take all the proceeds
and donate it to the fine arts program at Saint Paul's.
Because Saint Paul's academically for me, they kind of changed
(03:45):
my whole life and taught me so much about how
to stand on a platform and jump off of it
with a leap of faith and have the right academic
background behind that. So maybe, just maybe there's somebody else
around that has those same kind of dreams and wants
to do the same kind of things that I wanted to,
and maybe this will help you give them a platform.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
That's wonderful. First of all, I mean, what a great
school and what a great program they have, and you know,
you're giving back to the community here, and I think
that is absolutely wonderful. And second of all, I mean,
I don't think you need a test run. Although I'm
glad you're doing this, I mean, I think it's gonna
be just freaking fantastic because it's gonna be a lot
of fun. Yeah, I mean, you're doing it almost like
(04:23):
a like an in the round. But I mean, I love, love,
love hearing the songwriters themselves do their own songs, just
because it's from your point of view, and it is
something that it's so different and unique when it comes
from your point of view. But it's just gonna be
you by yourself, correct a one man show.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
It's just a one man show and a lot of talking.
But there will be a lot of songs played. Some
of the songs will play the whole song, some will
kind of play in parts. There's one that that I'll do,
which will be like Jesus does that Eric Church recorded
Oh Yes from the Chief album Bet Yes. I'll kind
of show you exactly how it was written and how
it was pieced together. I'm sitting at the piano, but
that cool. Yeah, And we'll tell some funny stories. I
(05:05):
have a lot of self deprecating humor. I don't mind
telling on myself. We'll make you laugh, We're gonna break
your heart. We'll give you hope, love, it will inspire you,
and maybe along the way I might save a few lives,
which would be the coup de gras of it all.
Because if I can get you to go get a
cold moss B forty five instead of fifty four like
I did, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I can
(05:25):
save you a lot of trouble and the gonna if
there's any like GI doctors, anybody there that's gonna be
there that night, bring some business cards with you. I
can probably feel your.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Dance card for I think that's a wonderful idea. God
bless you for doing this, and I think, you know,
maybe God is using.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
You for for this, and I think that's huge percent.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah, all right, MONI Chris well, thank you so much
from a Satsuma slash mobile. Yeah, we appreciate it. We're
so excited for your success and we're glad you know
that you're doing this event and again. More details at
ninety five KSJ dot com
Popular Podcasts
1. Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
2. Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
3. Crime Junkie
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.