The Georgetown Public Library hosts “Live Music at the Library” at 2 pm the third Sunday of most months of the year; the concerts are free and open to the public, and no longer require registration. Seating is limited to 200 attendees.

Carol Montag

Carol first began singing and performing music at an early age at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Ames Iowa. In addition to piano lessons, Carol studied the flute in middle school and high school. While in high school, she also learned to play her sister’s guitar by ear while listening to such folk music legends as Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Carole King, John Denver, and Joan Baez. She saved her money and in her senior year she purchased her first guitar, a Yamaha 12-string, and has been writing music ever since. In college, Carol played in a folk band and majored in graphic design. After graduation, she worked a few years at Rockwell International as a graphic designer. She eventually left that position to devote more time to music.

Carol’s first paid gigs were at a Mexican restaurant in Cedar Rapids. Soon she began performing at colleges, coffeehouses, house concerts, churches, music festivals, and live radio shows. She was a frequent guest on The Flea Market, a live radio show hosted by folk music legend, Jim Post, out of Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music. In the 1990s, Carol was commissioned by Ballet Iowa’s artistic director, Kenneth Oberly, to write songs for a ballet about a farm family in crisis. The work is titled “Swallows Return in the Spring.” Carol toured the midwest performing live with the ballet company. Carol was also commissioned to write and perform music for the LaCrosse Ballet. She has recorded four solo albums: Song for Carrie, White, Marigolds, and Second Sermon (on her Monday’s Music record label) and two Christmas albums, Silent Night and Simple Gifts, with the trio known as Tribute (Carol, Kathy Donnelly, and Nina Swanson). Tribute has performed yearly Christmas concerts to sold out crowds in the Cedar Rapids area. While performing at a private party in Washington, DC, known as Iowa Days, Carol was invited to sing at the 2010 World Food Prize Laureate Award Ceremony by World Food Prize president and former ambassador to Cambodia, Kenneth Quinn. Past performers at the ceremony include such notables as John Denver, Ray Charles, and Simon Estes.

Find out more about Carol at:

https://www.carolmontag.com/
Facebook
YouTube

Check the Library Events Calendar for more information about each performance.

This performance is a gift of the Friends of the Georgetown Public Library.