Montgomery Gentry

Montgomery Gentry is an American country music duo/solo act founded by singers Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry, both Kentucky natives. They began performing together in the 1990s as part of two different bands with Montgomery's brother, John Michael Montgomery. Although Gentry won a talent contest in 1994, he reunited with Eddie Montgomery after Gentry was unable to find a solo record deal, and Montgomery Gentry was formed in 1999. The duo is known for its Southern rock influences, and has collaborated with Charlie Daniels, Toby Keith, Five for Fighting, and members of The Allman Brothers Band.

Montgomery Gentry released six studio albums for Columbia Records' Nashville division: Tattoos & Scars (1999), Carrying On (2001), My Town (2002), You Do Your Thing (2004), Some People Change (2006), and Back When I Knew It All (2008), and a Greatest Hits package. These albums produced more than twenty chart singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, including the No. 1 hits, "If You Ever Stop Loving Me", "Something to Be Proud Of", "Lucky Man", "Back When I Knew It All", and "Roll with Me". Ten more of their songs reached the Top 10 on the country chart, including the No. 3 hit, "Gone", the most played country song by a duo in 2005. Tattoos & Scars, My Town, and You Do Your Thing are all certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In 1999, they were awarded Favorite New Artist—Country at the American Music Awards. Both the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association named them Duo of the Year in 2000, awards for which they were nominated by one or both associations in every year until 2012. In 2009, they were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.

On September 8, 2017, Gentry died in a helicopter crash in Medford, New Jersey, where the duo was scheduled to perform that evening. The helicopter pilot died at the scene and Gentry died as he was being rushed to the hospital. Despite Gentry's death, Montgomery continues to tour under the Montgomery Gentry name and has pursued a solo career.

History

Gerald Edward Montgomery was born September 30, 1963, in Danville, Kentucky. Troy Lee Gentry (April 5, 1967 – September 8, 2017) was born in Lexington, Kentucky. When Montgomery was 13 years old, he played drums in his parents' band, Harold Montgomery and the Kentucky River Express. In 1990, Montgomery founded the band Early Tymz, which included his younger brother, John Michael Montgomery, and Troy Gentry.

After Early Tymz disbanded, the Montgomery brothers and Gentry briefly performed as Young Country, with John Michael as lead vocalist. John Michael left for a solo career in the early 1990s. Gentry went solo and won the Jim Beam National Talent Contest in 1994, which led to him opening for Patty Loveless and Tracy Byrd. Gentry initially wanted to pursue a solo career, but after he was unable to find a record deal, he reunited with Eddie Montgomery to form a duo called Deuce, which played at local nightclubs. The duo later changed its name to Montgomery Gentry, and signed with Columbia Records' Nashville division in 1999.

Musical career

1999–2000: Tattoos & Scars

Montgomery Gentry released its debut single, "Hillbilly Shoes", in early 1999. It entered the Billboard country singles charts two weeks before its scheduled release date, peaking at number 13 on the country charts and 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. High radio demand for the single led to the label advancing the release date of the duo's debut album, Tattoos & Scars, from early May to April 6.

"Lonely and Gone" was the album's second single, peaking at number 5 on the country charts by year's end. The song was co-written by Dave Gibson and former Pirates of the Mississippi lead singer Bill McCorvey. Following it was the top 20 "Daddy Won't Sell the Farm", which won its co-writer, Canadian country singer Steve Fox, the 2000 Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) award for Song of the Year. After it, Montgomery Gentry charted the number 31 singles "Self Made Man" and "All Night Long". The latter, which featured guest vocals from Charlie Daniels, was previously the b-side to "Hillbilly Shoes". It was also Daniels' first appearance in the top 40 since "Mister DJ" in 1990. The duo won the Vocal Duo of the Year award at the Country Music Association Awards in late 2000, the first time in eight years that Brooks & Dunn did not win this award. They also won the Top New Vocal Duo or Group award from the Academy of Country Music and the 2000 Favorite New Artist—Country award at the American Music Awards. By the end of 2000, Montgomery Gentry charted at number 38 with a cover of Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas from the Family", itself the b-side to "All Night Long". Tattoos & Scars was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2001, for shipments of one million copies.

The album received generally positive reviews for the duo's Southern rock influences. Thom Jurek of Allmusic gave it four stars out of five, calling it "one of the best pop records of the year. Period." and Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly rated it "B", saying that the album was "testosterone-laden". In comparison, Country Standard Time reviewer Jeffrey B. Remz thought that many of the duo's songs lacked distinctiveness, saying that they seemed to be derivative of Daniels and Travis Tritt.

2001–2002: Carrying On

Montgomery Gentry's second album, Carrying On, was released in mid-2001. Lead-off single "She Couldn't Change Me" peaked at number 2 on the country charts and number 37 on the Hot 100, making their first Top 40 entry there. The album's only other single, "Cold One Comin' On", reached number 23 on the country charts. Also included on the album was a cover of Waylon Jennings' "I'm a Ramblin' Man". In March 2002, they charted at number 45 with the track "Didn't I", a cut from the soundtrack to the film We Were Soldiers which was never officially released as a single. The duo promoted the album both on a headline tour sponsored by Jim Beam, and on the Brooks & Dunn Neon Circus & Wild West Tour, which included Toby Keith and Keith Urban. Later in 2002, they toured with Kenny Chesney on his No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems tour.

Mike Kraski, then the senior vice president of sales and marketing at Sony Music Nashville, thought that Carrying On showed an artistic growth over Tattoos & Scars, and the duo itself thought that Carrying On was more "edgy" in comparison. It was less favorably received than its predecessor; William Ruhlmann thought that many of the songs "sound like they're trying to [sic] hard to be macho", and Country Standard Time's Mike Clark thought that the duo was "playing it safe", although he described the singles favorably. The album was certified gold for shipments of 500,000 copies.

2002–2004: My Town

On August 27, 2002, Montgomery Gentry released My Town. After working with producer Joe Scaife on their first two albums, they switched to Blake Chancey. He allowed them to pick different session musicians than typically used on mainstream country albums, such as Chuck Leavell and Johnny Neel of The Allman Brothers Band, whose "Good Clean Fun" was covered on it. They also chose songs co-written by songwriters who had not appeared on their previous albums, including Jeffrey Steele and Rivers Rutherford. The album produced three singles, all co-written by Steele: the title track and "Speed" both at number 5, and "Hell Yeah" at number 4. Along with Blake Shelton and Andy Griggs, they contributed a guest appearance on Tracy Byrd's mid-2003 single "The Truth About Men", which made the country top 20. In March 2004, My Town became the duo's second platinum-certified album.

Ruhlmann gave the album a generally positive review, saying that it "rocks harder as it goes along". On the same site, Rick Cohoon praised "My Town" for "painting in words and music both the pace of living in a small town", and "Speed" for being "slower and more deliberate than the recklessness the title suggests". On Country Standard Time, Tom Netherland called it "their third and finest release".