The Montana Rangers, also known as the Montana Ramblers, were a hillbilly cowboy band in the late 1930's and early 1940's, featuring musician and rodeo cowboy Charles Alfred "Montana" Bergau of Hammond, NY (later Rochester, NY). Bergau was the multi talented manager of the group, and was skilled on the violin, guitar, banjo, bass, harmonica, and jug, in addition to singing, yodeling, trick fiddling, and lasso. He composed the song "Montana Lullaby" among others.
Early in their career, they played numerous radio engagements on WHN and WBNX, playing as many as 13 radio gigs in a single week. They also performed on multiple occasions at the Village Barn country music nightclub in New York City's Greenwich Village.
At the personal recommendation of Ted Mack, The Montana Rangers auditioned for the Major Bowes Amateur Hour radio show on November 27, 1939. They played live on the November 30, 1939 broadcast.
The Montana Ramblers joined Hoot Gibson's traveling rodeo in 1939. Later, they joined Jack Shay's Radio Round-Up.
The group disbanded in the late 1940's after Bergau's marriage in 1946 and the birth of his first child in 1947.
Charles "Montana" Bergau and Ted Mack, talent scout for The Major Bowes Amateur Hour, 1939