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DON'T SELL MY GUITARS

I was born in a Honky Tonk on Route 66. My dad played guitar in the bar and we lived in the adjacent motel. From those humble beginnings - a storyteller was born. I've written for radio, television, magazines, newspapers and television. I won a local Emmy and a Writer's Guild Award. But there was one more story I just had to tell - the story of my dad, Kenny Montgomery. In the making of this film, I learned how far a father will go to protect and love his family.

Kenny picked Oklahoma cotton from the age of 5 and bought his first guitar from the Sears Roebuck catalogue when he was 7. By the time he was 10, preachers came from all over Oklahoma to take him to tent revivals to play his beloved Silvertone guitar. Over the years, he collected and played Gibsons, Martins and Fenders and when he wasn’t playing them they hung on the wall of his music room. Now in the final days of his long life, he has one last request, “Don’t sell my guitars.” This is the story of my Dad, Kenny Montgomery, and the surprising revelation of what happened to his most beloved guitar of all – that old Sears Roebuck Silvertone.

  • Lynn Montgomery
    Director
    Writers Guild Award Winner, Local Emmy Award Winner
  • Lynn Montgomery
    Writer
  • Lynn Montgomery
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    20 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 22, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    35,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Santa Barbara International Film Festival
    Santa Barbara
    United States
    February 6, 2017
    World Premiere
  • Red Dirt Film Festival
    Stillwater
    United States
    March 4, 2017
    Oklahoma Premiere
    BEST EDITING
  • Cinema At The Edge
    Santa Monica
    United States
    April 30, 2017
    BEST DOCUMENTARY NOMINATED
  • Bare Bones Film Festival
    Muskogee, Oklahoma
    United States
    April 21, 2017
    BEST DOCUMENTARY WINNER
  • Riverside International Film Festival
    Riverside
    United States
    April 29, 2017
    BEST DOCUMENTARY NOMINATED
  • Arizona International Film Festival
    Tucson
    United States
    April 26, 2017
    Arizona Premiere
    BEST DOCUMENTARY NOMINATED
  • Short Sweet Film Festival
    Cleveland
    United States
    March 4, 2017
  • Other Venice Film Festival
    Venice
    United States
    October 6, 2017
  • Long Island International Film Festival
    Long Island
    United States
    July 14, 2017
    New York Premiere
  • Austrian International Film Festival
    Vienna
    Austria
    October 13, 2017
    European Premiere
Director Biography - Lynn Montgomery

Lynn Montgomery won a Los Angeles area Emmy for the documentary, Child Abuse, The Day After about the failings of the child protective custody system in LA. She won a Writer’s Guild Award for her children’s script for the Showtime series, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, starring Jean Stapleton, Shelley Duvall and Joan Cusack. She created a TV series for NBC and Disney called The Torkelsons, about her mother’s family in Oklahoma. She has written for the LA Weekly and the Big Bear Grizzly. She wrote and produced a nationally syndicated radio show aired on over 100 rock and roll stations for Westwood 1. Recently she wrote an award winning children’s book, Butt Ugly.
Lynn makes her directorial debut with Don’t Sell My Guitars.

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Director Statement

Thirty years ago, Ralph Waite, the dad on the hit CBS TV show, The Waltons, fell in love with the story of my dad playing gospel music at the tent revivals in Oklahoma. He especially loved the image of little Kenny wiring a pie tin collection plate to the straps of his overalls, marching down the aisle, picking his guitar and pretending the poor farmers in the dusty old revival were really adoring fans at the The Grand Ole Opry or The Louisiana Hayride, tossing coins at his feet.

Ralph Waite bought the rights to the story and I wrote it as a CBS Movie of the Week. Ralph was going to play Kenny's disapproving preacher father who tried to steer his son away from the sinful clutches of "worldly" music. We worked on it for a year. It was called Oklahoma Christmas.

Alas, it never got made. But I think Ralph Waite and Kenny Montgomery are both smiling down on this little movie, tapping their toes to the music and singing out, "It's about time!"