Monty Criswell

Songwriter, Cancer Survivor, Keynote Speaker, Performer

Monty Criswell grew up on the Alabama coast and began his professional songwriting career in 1993, after graduating from the University of Alabama and passing on an acceptance to law school. Over the span of his more-than-three-decade career, he has had hundreds of songs recorded by artists such as Kenny Chesney, Scotty McCreery, Tim McGraw, Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker, and George Strait.

A two-time Grammy nominee for Country Song of the Year, Monty won the CMA Single of the Year award in 2008 for “I Saw God Today.” In 2021, his Eric Church song “Hell of a View” won the Music Row Awards Song of the Year award, and he received a CMA nomination for both song and single of the year. Additionally, Monty is an ACM, Dove, Canadian CMA, and People’s Choice Awards nominee.

Monty is also a stage III colorectal cancer survivor. He splits his duties between being a staff songwriter for his publisher in Nashville and performing for corporations all across the country with his keynote/life coach and songwriter shows. He and his wife, DeNesha, are proud financial supporters of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville through their membership in Vanderbilt’s Canby Robinson Society.