Email This   Larger Font      Print This   Smaller Font Advertisement   If you go What: Toby Keith in concert with Montgomery Gentry, Carter’s Chord, Mica Roberts and Trailer Choir. When: 7:30 p.m. today. Where: The Amphitheater at Clark County, 17200 N.E. Delfel Road, Ridgefield. Cost: $24.50-$73.50 through Ticketmaster, 360-573-7700. Information: amphitheateratclarkcounty.com. Montgomery Gentry, which is touring this summer with Toby Keith, plans to play several songs off its latest CD, “Back When I Knew It All,” and filling out the hourlong set with hits from the duo’s catalog.(The Associated Press)

Friday, July 18, 2008
By By Alan Sculley, for The Columbian

For several years, Mont-
gomery Gentry appeared to be on the verge of becoming a bona fide arena headlining country act.

The duo of Eddie Mont-
gomery and Troy Gentry were named the 2000 duo of the year by the Country Music Association, displacing Brooks & Dunn in that category. Mont-
gomery Gentry also took home and American Music Award that year for favorite new country artist.

The duo were also getting great exposure on tours with Brooks & Dunn in 2001, and with Kenny Chensey in 2002 and 2003. In 2002, the band released of “My Town,” a CD that solidified Montgomery Gentry’s reputation as consistent hitmakers.

But the duo have yet to achieve the breakthrough that seemed at hand. Once again this summer, Montgomery Gentry holds down an opening slot on a tour by another country superstar — this time Toby Keith.

But one won’t find Troy Gentry lamenting the place he and Eddie Montgomery occupy on the country music landscape in 2008, as the duo celebrates 10 years on the national scene with the release of a new CD, “Back When I Knew It All.”

“Eddie and I have no problems with where we’re at now,” Gentry said in a phone interview last week. “Would we have liked to have been bigger than we are now? Of course, as anybody would be, but the one thing that Eddie and I can say is being out here for nine years (since the release of the duo’s debut CD, “Tattoos and Scars”), we do have a career, that we’re a mainstay.”

Gentry pointed out that it took Keith and Chesney 10 years to become major touring acts. “We’re in our ninth year,” he said. “Next year hopefully we’ll be there.”

One factor in the duo’s favor is its record label, Sony/BMG is now more stable.

Several times in the past, Montgomery Gentry has released albums right around the time Sony and its Columbia Nashville label were going through changes with label presidents. That created situations in which the duo’s albums didn’t get the seamless, fully coordinated promotion that CDs need to become major hits.

This was true of the previous Montgomery Gentry CD, 2006’s “Some People Change,” which arrived around the time Sony merged with BMG and veteran country music executive Joe Galante came on board to lead the new Sony/BMG Nashville operation.

As it was, “Some People Change” still gave Montgomery Gentry a chart-topping country hit, “Lucky Man.” That was the third No. 1 song in a career that now includes more than 20 charting singles.

“Some People Change,” though, was seen as a departure from Montgomery Gentry’s usual hard-hitting, good-time music. It found the duo dialing down the sound, and taking on a more introspective tone as some songs touched on their religious and personal beliefs.

But when it came time to begin work on “Back When I Knew It All,” Galante was eager to see Montgomery Gentry return to the duo’s familiar rowdier ways.

“When we were going into this album, he (Galante) said my favorite project that you’ve ever done is the ‘My Town’ record,” Gentry said. “He’s like ‘I’d like to get more back to of that sound.’”

That’s exactly what Montgomery Gentry did, as tracks such as “I Pick My Parties (with Keith joining in on vocals), “Now You’re Talking” and “One In Every Crowd” evoke the roaring guitars and beefy rhythms of Southern rock. The duo balances such rowdy moments with a few reflective ballads, including “God Knows Who I Am” and the title song.

So far, fans seem to like the return to form. The title song, released ahead of the CD’s June release, has gone No. 1 and got “Back When I Knew It All” off to a strong start.

 “I think we’re setting ourselves up perfectly to make that next step,” Gentry said. “I think this album shows and proves that we are ready to take that next step and hit the superstar headlining status.”

The tour this summer with Keith should help that cause. Gentry said he and Montgomery are playing several songs off of “Back When I Knew It All,” and filling out the hour-long set with hits from the duo’s catalog.

“With the combination of Montgomery Gentry and Toby Keith together, you’ve got three hours of back-to-back hits,” Gentry said, including Keith’s two-hour headlining set in the equation. “As far as bang for the buck, I think you’re getting more hits and more songs and more entertainment on this tour than probably any other tour out there right now.”