The Start of Something New…

2025 was a year of significant personal and professional elevation, marked by growth, joy, and continuous learning. Professionally, I had an awesome year, performing 155 shows and teaching an average of 70 students weekly across 10 different instruments. A major highlight was successfully creating and touring a children’s workshop, performing it at 9 libraries with a combined attendance of over 400.

Beyond my career, I dedicated time to acquiring a new skill—woodworking—and by year-end, I was crafting useful and meaningful items for my family. My focus on family and friends deepened our relationships, and I’m proud to see my children thriving.

While the year was not without its challenges, my greatest source of pride is the elevation of my strength—mentally, physically, and spiritually. I invested heavy, hard work every single day, leading to a profound understanding of myself and the world. For the first time in my life, I can confidently say I have achieved this level of self-awareness. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the unwavering love, patience, and support of my family, friends and coworkers, and I am so, so grateful that my children are happy and my inner circle is stronger than ever.

As I approach 2026 and my 40th birthday this year, I am ready for significant changes and upgrades in my unconventional, blessed life. It may not be a cookie-cutter path, but it is authentically mine. I feel ready to embrace 2026 and this milestone birthday with vigor and an ever-learning, ever-growing mindset.

I am finally prepared to share my journey and look forward to growing alongside you all. My hope is that by sharing my light, it will reach and help others who are also on their path of growth.

Go do something you enjoy. Love deeply, work hard, and stay optimistic. You can do incredible things for yourself and others. 🫶🏾

Playing with the OHS Jazz Band, and other Highlights from the Past Week

wow, this past week was filled with lots of fun performances! Last Thursday, I had the wonderful opportunity to be a guest solo artist with the Owensboro high school jazz band at the KMEA conference in Louisville, Kentucky. The students that were there performing put on a spectacular show, and I’m so blessed that I could be a part of it! Below should be the YouTube video of the song that I was featured on. Be sure to watch the whole thing, the high note at the end is worth it! Later that evening, I also performed my usual 1st Thursdays show at Entwined, and performed with the super talented Dekar Baker yesterday at our monthly second Sunday’s show. Tonight, we have video game night at Mo’s house! Just updated my event calendar with some new things for the summer, so be sure to check those out, and mark your personal calendars! Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Madisonville, KY this past weekend!

I had the honor and privilege of being featured this past weekend for the David and Evelyn Smart Coffeehouse series at the beautiful Glema Mahr Center for the Arts in Madisonville, KY. I was able to bring a few of my friends together to form a band and play a 90 minute show featuring a few of my original songs I’ve written throughout the years. It was such a fun event! Concept Sound and Lights got us dialed in, and we had incredible food catered to us, haha. Here are a few pictures, and hopefully I’ll be able to post some videos soon!

Hey, 2025!

Wow, it’s hard to believe that it’s already 2025! Here in Evansville, currently we’re dealing with quite a bit of ice and snow, but we’re making it through. I decided that it would be a good idea to start the blog posts again, and hopefully these notes will come in handy for anybody who visits the website.

So, what are your goals for 2025? Some people like to write down New Year’s resolutions, which are a good idea. I feel like I have more success in writing down some major goals, and from there, figuring out the steps needed to accomplish those goals. It’s a lot like practicing music, honestly. We can still get a lot done if we don’t write things down, but with a little bit of structure, you can make the most efficient use of your time and energy. And that’s what I’m going for this year. Here’s a fun activity that you can play yourself, or extend to your family. Set a timer for 3 to 5 minutes, and answer each of these questions. After you’re done with all the questions, share them with your friends and family, and keep the train going. Here are the questions:

  1. What were your biggest triumphs in 2024?
  2. What one word best summarizes and describes your 2024 experience?
  3. What else do you need to do or say to feel like 2024 is complete?
  4. What would you like to be your biggest triumph in 2025?
  5. What advice would you like to give yourself for 2025?
  6. What would you be most happy about completing in 2025?
  7. What major indulgence are you willing to experience in 2025?
  8. What one word is your theme word for 2025?

By the way, all of these I heard on a YouTube video that I watched about a week ago. One of my morning routines is to make a YouTube playlist full of motivational and educational videos. It’s a really good positive way to start my day. I hope these help you as much as they did me. Happy 2025, everyone! 🙂

Quick Update on 2021!

Hi everyone! I’m not sure who will actually be seeing this, but I wanted to give you a quick update on how things are going. First off, I’m happy to announce that my year is going to be full of public performances! Please continue to be safe for you and others, but I am looking forward to seeing so many people in the near future! Also, I have a wonderful baby boy! Check out my Instagram for the cutest pictures you’ve ever seen. Also also, if you’d like to see where I’ll be playing in the coming days/weeks/months, head over to the Events page at the top!

I’ve been working on improving my live shows by incorporating Ableton live in with my Headrush Looperboard. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it, but I’m still practicing and perfecting this new setup. Coming soon!!!

Monte Skelton: 2020 Vol. 1 is Finally Here!

My friends, the time has finally arrived! Monte Skelton: 2020 Vol. 1 will be available for streaming and digital download soon! In fact, by the time I finish writing this, it’ll probably be ready! 2020 has been wild, let’s just be honest. Personally however, I feel like it has given me an opportunity to reexamine myself, be honest with my feelings, and understand the world around me much better. So Volume 1 is about some things that I’ve learned about recently. Comment your favorite song from the new album and tell me why!

Also, check out this music video to go along with the new album featuring the song ‘Do What Is Best,’ and super featuring some incredible humans in Evansville, Indiana! 🙂

Weekly Livestream Show!

Well, as all of us are experiencing the Covid-19 pandemic in our own ways, many musicians have had their lives upended. Personally, I am very thankful that I can teach lessons virtually, however, 50-60% of my income comes from public performances and therefore has been nonexistent since the beginning of March. Also, I miss performing live for people! So, for your pleasure and mine, I have been performing live shows on my Facebook page every Sunday at 6pm CST, and then posting those videos the next day on my YouTube page for all to hear. So be sure to check them out, and if you feel obligated to leave a tip for me using PayPal or other digital format, I greatly appreciate it! Here’s the one from yesterday, and the rest are posted as well! Enjoy, and I hope that all of you are staying safe! Show love towards one another!

It’s 2020!

And way, way past time for me to update this blog, haha. With the other 1, 329, 567,845 things I do, my website has definitely been lowest in my totem pole of priorities. So I was thinking, how can I remedy this? Well, one thing I’m doing is shifting the focus of the website a bit. My blog posts will be just that, an area for me to be me, tell my story in a format that would take longer than 15 seconds to skim through. I’ll update it when I can. When I do, it’ll be worthwhile. The rest of the site will be constantly updated with my videos, music, merchandise, and info on all the projects I’m always involved in.

I’ve been busy writing new music, performing of course, and doing lots of teaching and learning. Navigating my way through my new Headrush Looperboard has opened some new doors in looping possibilities. Searching for growth in my guitar and piano playing has helped me navigate my way through music theory and a better understanding of how to balance the realms of electric and acoustic sounds. So yeah, lots of cool stuff coming your way. Team Skelton will now continue as Skelton’s Montourage, and we’re preparing new tunes, as well as live versions of my originals from My World and Inside My Mind.

Along with all the music and teaching and work, this past year gave me the opportunity to grow as a human being, to understand who I am and how to take care of myself physically, mentally, and spiritually. I cannot stress how important this is, especially to those of us who have always felt like something was always missing. We have to understand ourselves first, then we can fully extend ourselves to others. Some may disagree and that’s okay, this is just where my perspective of live has taken me. There are some really great books and videos that I may recommend in the future, but I want to stress, that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It’s okay to disagree, and it doesn’t make anyone any less or better of a person. It’s just them. Read it again if you need to. 🙂

So here we go! The calendar of events will be updated within the next couple of weeks, and until then, my facebook page is completely up to date with the public events until March. Happy 2020 everyone, keep pushing forward!