Complex sentence: He is the first cousin of film score composers Thomas Newman and David Newman (composer), and his paternal grandmother was Louise Moss Montgomery who was named poet laureate of the state of Mississippi in 1973 by Governor Bill Waller in 1973.
Split into simpler sentences: He is the first cousin of film score composers Thomas Newman and David Newman (composer). His paternal grandmother was Louise Moss Montgomery who was named poet laureate of the state of Mississippi in 1973 by Governor Bill Waller in 1973.