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0663-MUS-12/2013
Miki Honeycutt Parre Montcalm
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Miki was born in 1952 in Fort Riley, Kansas to Lewis and Claire Honeycutt. Her dad was in the Air Force and Miki is an only child. Her first musical performances were in high school when she joined the drama club. Her favorite music groups when she was young were Santana, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Jim Hendrix, Dusty Springfield and Gladys Knight. Miki always wanted to be a singer and when she graduated from Reno High School in 1970, she joined the Bob Raymond Show band. They worked Vegas, Reno, Chicago and Oregon but Bob wanted to take a break so he got the rest of the band a gig at the Medford Hotel without him. There were some guys in a band from Shreveport and they hit it off. They worked Washington and Oregon before deciding to come to Shreveport. When they first returned to Shreveport, Jimmy Honeycutt, the saxophonist, began playing with Bill Bush at the Moulin Rouge and she sat in with them. She then began singing for the house band at the Town and Country Motor Hotel in their nightclub/restaurant. She and Jimmy were married in July of 1973 and soon had their first son, Matt. After he was born, she went back to work with Jimmy at the Circle In The Square. She stayed home after Amie was born and Jimmy went into the computer business. She did do some jingles for commercials and also made a 45 called Make Up For Lost Time with Stan Lewis' record company. When Amie was about two, A Train asked if she would do some backup singing for their album but that developed into a steady job as they went on the road. The best show she remembers playing was with Jimmy at the Municipal Auditorium for the Musician's Union Convention. Other memorable shows were Jazz Fest with A Train, the LA street scene in Los Angeles, opening for Bonnie Raitt in Lafayette and opening for Erma Thomas and Eddie James. She thinks music has changed now because networking has changed and there are no house bands anymore where you can have a steady gig and develop your craft. Miki thinks that the music industry in Shreveport never developed like Nashville because Shreveport is in the Bible belt and the religious influences here were too great. After A Train split up, she recorded a solo CD, Soul Deep, and then went to Germany to perform. When she returned she went to college and got a nursing degree and now works at Brentwood Hospital. Her favorite song is Don't Cry for Me written by Buddy Flett and her favorite artists are Donny Hathaway, Bonnie Raitt and Mary J. Blige. Miki still performs some with Buddy and David. Her advice to anyone who wants to become a singer is to be sure you really want it more than anything because you will have to work very hard to be successful.