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Nashville singer/songwriter with local ties dies of cancer Nancy Montgomery's songs have been sung by musicians such as Reba McEntire, Ricky Skaggs and Waylon Jennings Comment By Nick Morgan Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Nick Morgan Mail Tribune Posted May. 8, 2015 at 4:16 PM Updated May 8, 2015 at 5:07 PM By Nick Morgan Mail Tribune Posted May. 8, 2015 at 4:16 PM Updated May 8, 2015 at 5:07 PM --> Listen to Nancy Montgomery songs online By Waylon Jennings, "Don’t Bring It Around Anymore," http://www.yout... » Read more X Listen to Nancy Montgomery songs online By Waylon Jennings, "Don’t Bring It Around Anymore," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1cZQHZ3Ppw By Eddie Raven, "I Want to Hear it From You," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UnCFdU428w By Highway 101, "Baby I’m Missing You," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBYqLn9BN7o By Janie Fricke, "Sleeping with Your Memory," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VyNzZcina4& ;feature=kp » Social News A woman with a storied career in music and roots in the Rogue Valley has died. Award-winning singer/songwriter Nancy Montgomery, whose songs have been sung by musicians such as Reba McEntire, Ricky Skaggs, The Kendalls, Waylon Jennings and others, died April 17 after a battle with colon cancer. Montgomery won first place in the Christian/Gospel category in the 2014 Great American Song contest for her song "Finally Here," written and performed with her cousin once removed, Justin Froese. She won the 2013 grand prize in the Song Door International Songwriting competition, she took honorable mentions at recent national and international songwriting competitions, and was an actor, with recurring roles on the TV series "The Vampire Diaries" in 2009 and 2010, along with music video and national television commercials. "I've done tons of country videos," Montgomery said in a 1993 interview with the Mail Tribune. "Tons. I was always the girl that was getting beat up or left behind." Montgomery was born in Philadelphia, but her career started in the Rogue Valley when she moved here to study criminology at Southern Oregon State College in the 1970s and to be near her brother, Gary Montgomery. Gary settled here after serving in the Navy and still lives in Medford after retiring from the Medford School District. Mail Tribune archives show Montgomery sang in the 1970s at clubs and taverns such as the Vintage Inn, Jazmin's, The Owl, The Boars Head, The Kopper Kitchen and The Hungry Woodsman. Jefferson Public Radio, at the time referred to as "KSOR," used to do live broadcasts from the Vintage Inn on Saturday nights, which is where she met friend and fellow performer Brian Freeman, who still resides in Ashland. “I heard her singing and was compelled by how personal it was — she was talking to you,” Freeman said. “Within five minutes of talking to her I felt like I’d known her for years.” The two performed and rehearsed together between other gigs and bands the two of them had. Freeman recalled a calm spontaneity about her. “She had no idea who I was, but she was open to trying anything her way,” Freeman said. Freeman remembers cooking simple meals and rehearsing together while Nancy worked the evening shift at Jackson County Juvenile Detention Home. They performed together from about 1975 to 1978. “It did not feel strange rehearsing at juvie, it felt just right,” Freeman said. During this time, Montgomery went above and beyond the duties of the Big Brother/Big Sister program and reached out to Renee Shaw, then a teen growing up in Medford. Montgomery would work with the bars and taverns where she was performing to arrange for 14-year-old Shaw, who was struggling with the loss of her father, to watch her sing. Shaw, who lives in Grants Pass and works as a book publicist, says it was Montgomery who first sparked an interest for her in literature. "I've known Nancy 40 years, and quite frankly she's the most influential person I've ever met aside from my mother," Shaw said. In 1979, Montgomery headed to Nashville, where she signed with now-defunct label Ovation records. By 1981 she had a top-100 country single, "All I Have to Do is Dream." After the label folded in the transition from vinyl to CDs, Montgomery focused her efforts on songwriting rather than performing. She wrote songs such as Reba McEntire's single "Why Not Tonight?" and Ricky Skaggs' "Love Can't Get Any Better than This." In the 1990s, she transitioned to an acting career and did voice work, but it was about this time that she began having trouble working a full day, according to Gary, because of what Nancy believed to be lupus. By the time she was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2013 she was at stage four. She stopped chemotherapy in 2014, he said. "Nancy was a caring, loving woman who helped people in need," Gary said. " She rescued cats and dogs and humans." By Nick Morgan Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Nick Morgan Mail Tribune Posted May. 8, 2015 at 4:16 PM Updated May 8, 2015 at 5:07 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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