In the late '80s, Monte joined forces with Brent Wilson, Craig Allen Pettigrew, and Thomas A. Lewis, Jr., to form the Wagoneers. They were a refreshing new sound in Nashville, and had 2 singles from their first record "Stout and High," and a guest appearance from Herb Alpert (owner of A&M Records, the label that put out the album). Unfortunately, the band disintegrated after their second album, "Good Fortune" was swept under the rug in the fickle Nashville music crowd.

After a 4 year hiatus, Monte returned with "Monte Warden" on Watermellon Records, a little Austin label. It was a big hit for a record on such a small label, and he won singer/songwriter of the year at the 1993 SXSW Music Festival in Austin, and won song of the year for "Just To Hear Your Voice." Two years later, he followed his self-titled album up with "Here I Am," again on Watermellon. This album strayed slightly from his country typecast, and so it received little attention, which is a shame- Monte can really ROCK when necessary. I got to sit in on a session or two in the making of this record at the Cut 'n Putt, Willie Nelson's private recording studio in the hill country outside Austin. (The vocal recording room is tiled just like a bathroom! It is a really magnificent studio- it used to be a country club before Willie bought it. There's a pool, and everything!)

Monte has been bouncing this last album around Nashville, and it has finally been released on Elektra, entitled "A Stranger To Me Now." He has been a full-time songwriter in the meantime, and has at least one song being recorded by LeAnn Rimes (he and Jack Ingram had a song in "Hope Floats," performed by Jack in the scene at the dance, but it isn't listed in the credits because they didn't play the whole song). He also has tunes performed by Toni Price, Patti Loveless, Kelly Willis, Bruce Robison, and Colin Boyd- a lot of these are co-writes and some even duets!