John Emil Montagnino, an accomplished singer/songwriter, guitarist, and a master of slide guitar, has delivered show stopping performances at major music festivals like the Telluride Blues and Brews Fest, the Leek Blues & Americana Festival UK, the Florida Folk Festival, the Decatur Blues and Bluegrass Festival, the Bangor On Dee Blues Festival UK and the Zoetemeer Blues Festival in the Netherlands.
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Equally adept with the acoustic Hawaiian lap steel guitar and Dobro, Emil first appeared on the South Florida music scene in 2000. Fans hear haunting, subtle hints of Delta bluesmen Son House and Blind Willie Johnson, but Emil ultimately creates a unique style all his own by integrating country blues, folk and bluegrass sounds into his repertoire.

Routinely taking the lost art of slide guitar in a new direction, Emil has composed a wealth of slide guitar tracks for media production libraries. His instrumental tracks have been published by LA Post Music in Los Angeles, Westar Music in Canada, Songs to Your Eyes Los Angeles and Strange Fruit in South Africa. Emil recently became the first American musician to be published by London’s KPM / EMI, one of the world’s largest production libraries. Among the many television and cable network shows Emil has supplied music for NBC's “Dateline,” "The Voice," Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations," UFC's "Ultimate Insider," ”American Pickers," and several international wildlife and nature documentaries.