Ouachita Stories

Returning to her alma mater next month, singer-songwriter Bonnie Montgomery will perform a concert on Friday, March 6, in Ouachita Baptist University’s Verser Theatre at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Ouachita School of Fine Arts’ Guest Artist Series. Tickets can be purchased for $5 each at www.obu.edu/boxoffice.

“Bonnie's rockabilly songs will be a big hit with fans of country music,” said Adam Wheat, Ouachita’s fine arts administrator, adding that “anyone who appreciates fun music” will enjoy her performance.

Wheat has been working to expand the Guest Artist Series, which includes musical and theatrical performances as well as Art and Design displays. “We wanted to reserve at least one space in our series each year to feature one of our many distinguished alumni,” he explained.

Montgomery, a native of Arkansas, is known as a classically trained opera singer by day and country queen by night. Describing her style, her website says, “Bonnie's catalog hails from a place where outlaw country saddles up with Americana and folk.”

She has traveled across the U.S. and Europe sharing her twist on classic country music, and in 2010 she earned the attention of publications such as The New Yorker, The Economist, The Huffington Post, The London Daily Telegraph and Time Magazine for her composition of Billy Blythe, a folk opera based on the childhood of President Bill Clinton. Montgomery’s first full-length album was released in the summer of 2014, and she is currently traveling the country with her band performing concerts in such cities as Little Rock, Austin and Los Angeles.

Following graduation from Ouachita in 2002, she traveled to China to teach English before returning to the U.S. to complete her Master of Arts degree in music at the University of Missouri’s Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She was named a recipient of the Ouachita Alumni Milestone Award in 2012.

Tickets are $5 each and may be purchased from the OBU Box Office weekdays from 1-5 p.m. Tickets also may be purchased online at www.obu.edu/boxoffice. Current Ouachita students may receive one free ticket by presenting their student ID at the box office. For more information, call the box office at (870) 245-5555 during business hours.

 

By McKenzie Cranford