The Day William ‘Curly’ Smith Revived His Music Career, All Thanks to His Son and TikTok

William ‘Curly’ Smith, a drummer who was born in Montana and raised in Arkansas, had quite a career in music. In addition to drumming for the band Boston, he worked alongside artists like The Monkees, Joe Walsh, Andy Taylor, Steve Jones, Willie Nelson, Ron Wood, and Mick Fleetwood. 

Roughly 43 years ago, Curly recorded a song titled Surrender to Me – co-produced by Mark Olson, who has since passed away. Unfortunately, the song was never released due to a lack of interest from record labels and an inability to distribute it himself. Keep in mind, this was a time before streaming services.

Curly ended up having a son roughly 20 years ago and while he hasn’t focused on his music career in quite some time, he has seen a bit of a resurgence over the past six months – all thanks to his son, Zach Montana. Little did he know his father’s Surrender to Me song would be such a hit on social media today.

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Montana had just gotten out of therapy when he turned his car on and turned the volume up. His father had a CD playing from when he was in the car last, so Montana decided to jam along to it. He came across a disco-esque song that caught his attention – especially when he heard his father’s voice. 

Amazed that he had never heard of the song, Montana immediately took to TikTok to post his findings. In a video that lasted nearly three minutes, Montana played the song for his followers – he has 87,000, as of November 9 – and the rest is history. It didn’t take long for thousands of others to share their love for it. 

“My dad has had a career that he’s really proud of, and this is just like the cherry on top. He thought he was done, and then this happened,” Montana told TODAY. “I’m listening and thinking, ‘Whoa, this is really good. Then the vocals come on and I hear a very familiar voice, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that’s my dad.”

Montana is extremely thankful for everyone who shared and reposted the song since going viral back in February. He praised how this experience has brought him and his father closer together. It goes to show you the power TikTok – and social media platforms, in general – can have when utilized properly. 

William ‘Curly’ Smith and Zach Montana Perform Together

As of November 9, the TikTok video originally posted by Zach Montana has been watched nearly four million times, liked more than one million times, and garnered more than 33,000 comments. There’s no way Montana or his father, William ‘Curly’ Smith, could’ve ever imagined it getting this much attention.

In fact, the song became so popular that they were invited to perform it together – as father and son – on Jimmy Kimmel Live back in February, nearly two months after posting the video. The two had instant chemistry as they performed the song for Kimmel’s audience, getting 1.5 million views on YouTube.

And while William ‘Curly’ Smith is excited to see his music being enjoyed by millions of people around the world – it’s still being used on TikTok to this day – he’s even more excited about the attention his son is getting. Montana is a musician himself and at just 20 years old, he still has his entire career ahead of him.

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As for Surrender to Me, it has since been released on practically all streaming platforms under the band name FireCityFunk. We’re excited to see if he releases any more hidden gems in his CD player, but are also excited to see what the future holds for his son, Zach Montana. It’s only up from here!