* En anglais uniquement
While the life of a sideman is sure to generate a pretty varied résumé, few have as odd a pedigree as
Monte Pittman. Hailing from Longview, Texas, the guitarist, singer, and songwriter got his start playing in bands around his native state before moving to Los Angeles in 1999, where he took a job as a guitar teacher. The job would turn out to be a boon for
Pittman, who took on a nice couple, director Guy Ritchie and international pop star
Madonna, as students.
Pittman was invited to join
Madonna's band while she was touring for
Ray of Light, and he became a constant fixture. Around the same time,
Pittman joined groove metal band
Prong, playing guitar and eventually helping to produce albums for the band. In 2009,
Pittman released his first solo album,
The Deepest Dark, which featured the singer/songwriter dipping his toes into solo waters with an acoustic album. The following year he would head out on tour with
Adam Lambert, whom he had previously played with before
Lambert appeared on American Idol, as a guitarist and music director. A second solo effort, this time a post-grunge album titled Pain, Love & Destiny, arrived in 2011, and was followed by a third, more heavy metal-leaning effort,
The Power of Three, in 2014. 2016's
Inverted Grasp of Balance saw
Pittman team up with
Charred Walls of the Damned,
Iced Earth and
Death drummer Richard Christy, and bass virtuoso
Billy Sheehan, for a set of heavy, hard-driving originals. ~ Gregory Heaney