The Buzz Montsinger Story

The story begins within the heart and soul of Lawson “Buzz” Montsinger, a Richmond native born and raised with an affinity for both athletics and music. Buzz grew up to be a football star as co-captain of the UR football team that took the Spiders to the Tangerine Bowl championship in 1969. All along, he also played saxophone, taking up the instrument at the age of 11 to fit in and “be cool”. The name change from Lawson to “Buzz” also occurred at that time and has become the moniker by which most everyone from Richmond to Florida know him best.

From UR, Buzz was drafted to the Dallas Cowboys where he enjoyed a year of rigorous training camp before pulling his hamstring and ultimately ending his career in football. When he returned home to Richmond, he threw himself into the entertainment scene, his true love, opening a restaurant in the west end known as Wimpydiddles.

Buzz continued to play saxophone and played with the best in town-- Steve Bassett, Robbin Thompson and Ron Moody, among many. He moved to Florida in 1980 and continued to play with a list of well known R&B bands such as Alex Taylor’s band, Noble Thin Man Watts, The Midnight Creepers and Dr. Hector & The Groove Injectors.

Fast forward thirty years to 2006, and you find Buzz back in Richmond taking a fall at a friend’s house that would culminate in a spinal cord injury leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. After two and a half months in the MCV spinal cord injury unit and extensive rehab, he was able to walk out of the hospital with the use of a cane.

With help from hundreds of friends that came out for the First Annual “Give Love to Buzz” event in July 2003, Montsinger received monetary gifts that aided in the massive rehab efforts that he would undergo that year and which he still continues today, 3 years later.

In the spring of 2008, when Montsinger realized he would most likely not regain use his right hand (his saxophone playing hand) he went into the studio with longtime friend/producer/musician, Bruce Olsen and began sitting in on sessions as a “producer”.

Together they came up with the idea for an album that would bring back “good ol'’ soul music” that Richmond enjoyed so much of during the days of their youth. They brought in Steve Bassett and Randy Moss (from Bassett’s current group The Mystic Soul Bubbas), and a backbone of Richmond soul musicians to form the Richmond Heart & Soul Revue.

Buzz then set about finding the vocalists for a list of songs he had come up with for the album. Ray Pittman, Janet Martin, Page Wilson, Tommy Crowther, Ron Moody, Steve Bassett, Robbin Thompson, Gayle McGehee and Montsinger’s daughter, Shannon Montsinger, agreed to sing the songs.  This was the first time since the 70’s that Steve Bassett & Robbin Thompson had sung together on an album. The two do a duo rendition of “He Will Break Your Heart.”

What makes the CD even more special is the fact that everyone involved donated their time and talent to the album out of a place of pure love, heart and soul for Montsinger, who has been a well-regarded musician and friend to many Richmonders over the years. It gives true meaning to the term “heart and soul.”