Montgomery Gentry

It’s so easy to forget that artists are people with real lives and traumas, not just singer/ song-writers that gain life experience solely for the purpose of putting it in a song. Eddie Montgomery is the better half of the musical group ‘Montgomery Gentry’ alongside Troy Gentry. This past week, Eddie Montgomery’s son was involved in a fatal car accident, a horror I can’t even begin to understand. I spent my entire life listening to Montgomery Gentry on the radio in the car and never once did I wonder about either of their families, or the things they might be dealing with. Upon further investigation, I learned that Montgomery had to undergo treatment for prostate cancer, was divorced by his wife (in the same month), AND closed a restaurant he owned all in under a few years. Doesn’t sound like an easy road to walk to me. I couldn’t have told you ANY of that but I sure can spout their album history off from memory, I could probably hit most of their singles as well.

The duo released their first album in 1999, and ‘Lonely and Gone‘ is one of my favorite country songs to date. Their southern rock influence, in tandem with their small-town, proud and loud personalities makes them one of the cooler country music artists in my opinion, aside from Gentry being kind of a dick, I try not to focus on that too much (exhibit A of people blatantly ignoring a musicians personal life and only caring about their music), alongside my personal favorite Toby Keith. Steven Huey of Allmusic referred to them as “multi-platinum country megastars noted for a soulful twang and a big black cowboy hat” and “rowdy redneck rebels who still hold small-town values”, and I really don’t think I could put it better myself. From ‘Daddy Won’t Sell the Farm” to ‘Work Hard, Play Harder’ their sound has been consistent, rambunctious, and in my opinion, it’s been great.

I don’t know if its really a problem that in lieu of scandal or controversy American culture cares more about the song than the artist behind it, I mean to be fair the singers probably appreciate the distance it gives them. Hunter’s death just brought it to my attention. The personal lives of songwriters are the only thing that influences their songs and we care so little about one and so greatly about the latter.  RIP Hunter, and my condolences to Eddie Montgomery.

4 Comments

Filed under Blog Post 2, News, Rockabilly, Southern Rock

4 Responses to Montgomery Gentry

  1. Darah Welch

    Candace,
    I really enjoyed this post because it revealed an aspect of pop culture that I rarely really think about or acknowledge. On occasion I wonder about the meanings behind songs of any genre; what led the artist to sing about such a deep topic and how did they gain the perspective they present in their song? Although I have never really heard of Montgomery Gentry (unfortunately) I can already understand where they would be coming from in many of their songs now that I have learned about Montgomery’s life. Thank you for sharing this artist with us and taking the time to remind us that singers (along with other celebrities) are real people with real needs.

  2. Lauren Harris

    Whenever I hear a song and I don’t know what it is about I always like to look up the artist and what is happening in their life or what influenced them to write a song. Sometimes it was just a fun song or written by someone else and sometimes it has lyrics that are close to the artist. I think music is an outlet for people, especially song writers. It can express any type of mood or feeling. I think sometimes people do not realize that if a song relates to you then it related to the person writing/singing the song. I enjoyed reading about Montgomery Gentry because I didn’t know much about them except that they sing the song “One in Every Crowd.” (great song by the way)

  3. I mentioned this when I graded the post, but I’ll say again that I seriously haven’t thought about Montgomery Gentry in 15 years. Now, suddenly, they’re everywhere! To Lauren’s point about music relating to people, I think this is where the line between singing and acting gets blurry. It makes sense to me that singers would gravitate toward songs that speak to their current situation, but I also think that a truly great singer will bring life to any song that he or she sings. For example, Brad Paisley is just as compelling singing “When I Get Where I’m Going,” which he recorded after the death of a close aunt, as he is singing novelty songs like “Alcohol” and “Online.”

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