Montana: A Love Story

2005 release from the Grammy winning pianist. After his 2002 Grammy award nominated Night Divides the Day: The Music of the Doors, George Winston went back to his Montana roots with this recording. Montana: A Love Story features five George Winston originals, five traditional songs from America, Quebec, Ireland, China and Japan, as well as seven pieces by composers Mark Isham, Frank Zappa, Sam Cooke, Philip Aaberg, Huddie (Leadbelly) Ledbetter , Paul Anastasio and Alby Potts.

From the opening piano notes of Montana: A Love Story, George Winston fans are sure to feel they've returned to safer ground after his last album, The Night Divides the Day, the pianist's dip into the acid rock of The Doors. There's nothing on Montana that wouldn't feel at home to anyone who has followed him since his first two albums on Takoma and Windham Hill records. Winston has carved out a space for open-air melodies that seem to echo off the Montana plains that have provided so much of his metaphorical imagery over the years. It's an attractive sound which, at its best, recalls Keith Jarrett's more contemplative ruminations, and at its worst, sounds like cocktail music by someone without a good fake book. The pure Winston sound can be heard on his originals, including "High Plains Lullaby," as well as covers like Mark Isham's childlike "Thumbelina." But Winston also plays Celtic tunes, Sam Cooke's R&B hit, "You Send Me," and Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene." And just to put you on edge, he does Frank Zappa's angular "The Little House I Used to Live In." He says it reminded him of the little house in which he grew up in Montana. When he explores these different styles, he becomes a more generic pianist, the kind you might hear at the local shopping mall. But on the reverie of "Sweet Soul" and the exoticism of "Sky," the distinct Winston sound is revealed as he continues to forge his brand of American Plains piano. --John Diliberto