By Lacey Middlestead
Independent Record
“An Unstoppable Music Force”
In his home tucked in the southeast hills of Helena country singer/songwriter, Brett Mondie, wipes down the kitchen counter after feeding his three children breakfast.
Glancing up, he smiles admiring the 1967 Gibson Southern Jumbo guitar hanging on the wall across the room.
Seeking a quiet moment to himself, he next heads downstairs passing three newborn photos of his children on the wall each swaddled atop a guitar.
With the twist of a doorknob, he opens a door to reveal his small but professional basement recording studio – a space where his musical stories of yesterday and all the possibilities of tomorrow await him.
“I have this feeling that I want to tell my story,” said Mondie of his music. “Also, I just love heartbreak country music, and they say that you write what you love and that’s definitely been the case for me.”
Born in Alamance County, North Carolina, Mondie is a self-described “country boy at heart.”
Mondie shared that his love for music started from an early age. He remembers listening to his mother sing while driving in the car, but it was his grandfather who opened his eyes to the magic that happens when playing an instrument.
“He was a multi-instrumentalist,” said Mondie of his grandfather. “He played upright bass, trumpet, piano, guitar and just the sky’s the limit. He always had a different instrument.”
Mondie recalled visiting his grandparents’ house as a kid and going into a room that housed all his grandfather’s instruments.
“It was just like a treasure trove,” said Mondie.
But it was a 1950s Martin D-18 guitar he kept under a bed that most intrigued Mondie.
“I always pulled it out and strummed on it,” said Mondie.
Around 12 years old, Mondie admitted developing a real attraction to playing musical instruments, particularly the guitar. After pleading with his parents for a year, they broke down and finally bought him his first guitar.
“The rest is history as far as music goes,” said Mondie.
Since the start of his music career Mondie has played over 500 performances, recorded 15 albums, appeared on three radio shows (and had multiple songs on the radio) and has accumulated fans from all over the globe.
But, as is true for many musicians, his road to achieving such a list of accomplishments has been far from smooth or linear.
A three-time high school dropout, Mondie did achieve his GED before later enrolling at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina. In between attending classes, Mondie kept occupied by surfing with friends at the nearby beach, waiting tables to pay for tuition, and playing music in bands like Fortune in the Sun.
“It was one of the best times of my life,” said Mondie of his college days.
It was also while in college that Mondie met the love of his life – his wife, Erin.
While it took Mondie six years to graduate college, his passion and ambition for making music had only grown during that time.
Mondie and his wife later moved to Los Angeles where he was determined to seriously pursue his musical career. While there he recorded music with Grammy winning producers, Jimmy Hoyson and Lawrence Juber (of Paul McCartney and Wings).
While Mondie met some influential people and gained valuable experience while in L.A., he found himself heading down a path that may have caused him to choose between his career and his family. That was something he simply wasn’t willing to do.
“I had made my mind up to quit music,” said Mondie.
Mondie and his wife ultimately made the difficult decision to leave L.A. and move to her hometown of Helena. Erin’s father, who owned H-Town Property Management Company, brought Mondie on board to begin taking over the company.
In between running the property management business and raising his three kids – Scarlett, Malone, and Porter – Mondie’s musical aspirations were put on the back burner for a bit. Determined to make music in a way that fit his life and not the other way around, he continued performing at local bars and even formed the duo, Kendrick and Mondie, with singer Marly Kendrick for a few years.
In March 2025, Mondie will take perhaps the biggest leap of his musical career with the release of a brand new album. While still yet to be named, the album has been his labor of love for the past three or four years. Featuring 14 original songs, the album aims to better convey who he is as an artist and the life journey he’s had.
“For the first time ever it’s probably the truest music for me that I’ve ever made,” said Mondie of his upcoming album. “It’s really country. It’s about family, about heartbreak, and making the best out of a bad situation. It feels like it’s coming from a really honest place for once.”
From the convenience of his home studio, Mondie wrote all the album’s songs, played most of the instruments featured, tracked it, produced it, arranged it, and composed it. He did pull in some assistance from noteworthy mixing engineers, Jason Lehning and Reid Sorel. Lehning was responsible for mixing Lainey Wilson’s song from the film Twisters “Out of Oklahoma” and Miranda Lambert’s album, “Palomino,” among countless other credits.
Just like creating any work of art, generating an album from scratch was a process – one that required hard work and a willingness to let it unfold in its own time.
“It’s like this big cloud that looms over me and lighting strikes every once in a while and kind of gives me a clear image of the thing that it is but I can’t really explain it other than it exists already and I’m just sort of finding out how to write it down, record it, and put it out,” explained Mondie of making an album.
With the release of the album, Mondie hopes to better share his music with his fans and the community.
“I have made the commitment to promote it and give it a good run, which is something I’ve never really done,” said Mondie of his album.
He’s got his sights set on playing some larger venues and making appearances at events next summer like the Under the Big Sky Music Festival. Mondie shared that he will also be opening for local musical favorite, The Clintons, this September.
“It’s such an honor to open for those guys and represent some Helena musical royalty,” said Mondie.
Leading up to the full album release, Mondie will be dropping a new single every six weeks. The first single off the album, “Hit and Run,” was released on August 8.
“I’m immensely proud of the song,” said Mondie. “The motive of a song like that is just to make people feel more normal about some of these situations. To normalize getting your heart totally ripped in half by someone when you think something is sure and serious and then it makes you lose faith in love and yourself.”
To accompany “Hit and Run’s” release, Mondie also created a music video for the single. Filmed at Dave's 32oz Bar and Grill in Boulder, Montana, the video features appearances from Mondie, his niece, and her boyfriend.
Another album song, “Hard Days,” is what Mondie calls “my biography.”
“Ultimately, the thread of the song is “hard days have hidden ways of teaching me things like how to stitch up a broken heart with six guitar strings.”
Available to stream on all major music platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud, Mondie’s latest single and upcoming album is not to be missed.
From that first time he strummed his fingertips along the guitar strings at his grandfather’s house to now releasing a full-length solo album, Mondie has proved himself to be quite the unstoppable musical force.
“I think for the first time ever I’m really making music that I just really like, and I want to hear, and I want it to exist in the world,” said Mondie.
"I feel really good about what's coming next," said Mondie.
**More Information**
For more information on Brett Mondie, please visit his website at brettmondie.com. His music is also available to steam on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud.
