The second in a series of three tributes to the outlaw country legend, The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Volume II brings together a diverse, all-star cast to honor one of music’s great icons. Spearheaded by Waylon’s widow Jessi Colter, son Shooter Jennings and guitarist Reggie Young, The Music Inside is a hard country, rough-around-the-edges collection celebrating the freedom of Waylon’s music.

It’s like Montgomery Gentry’s Eddie Montgomery sings toward the end of the duo’s spirited cover of the classic “Good ‘Ol Boys (Dukes of Hazzard Theme Song).” Just havin’ fun, mama, he muses over a thick rhythm section, honky tonk piano and pedal steel. On this song, and really everywhere on the record, that fun-loving sentiment is easily heard.

Be it Dierks Bentley, Hank Jr. or Justin Moore, the performances here are ignited by a love for Waylon’s enduring legacy and free spirit. Dierks opens the record with a swampy, thumping version of “Lonesome, Onry and Mean,” calling out the anthem with a smoldering intensity as the band’s obvious joy is heard through their own instrumental voices filling out the rest of the track. Hank Jr. couldn’t be more in his element than on the chuggin’ “Waymore’s Blues,” letting loose with the lines, Well, I woke up this mornin’ it was drizzlin’ rain / around the curb came a passenger train, over the song’s infectious shake. And Texan Pat Green, whose raspy voice gives the beautiful “Rainy Day Woman” a rugged edge, deftly navigates multiple tempo shifts before an around-the-horn solo handoff from pedal steel to fiddle and later electric guitar.

The majority of The Music Inside is uptempo, bordering on anthem. However, artists like country/hip-hop-infused Colt Ford and folk-inspired Jewel offer their takes on Waylon classics that serve to slow things down just a bit. On “Only Daddy That Will Walk The Line,” Colt dials down the original tempo, rhythmically speaking the verses before a searing slide guitar solo. Jewel, the only other woman on the album besides Jessi Colter, adds a bittersweet touch to Continue Reading

ShareThis

Montgomery Gentry's 2011 CD, Rebels On The Run.

Divorce…cancer…that’s a lot to deal with since November 2010. Yet Eddie Montgomery, half of the hard country duo Montgomery Gentry, could tell you a few things about having to face those new realities over the past year.  His perseverance (the cancer is now in remission) seems to have translated into a renewed focus on music as Rebels On The Run, the seventh studio album from Eddie and partner Troy Gentry, gets back to the basics and what matters most on their best collection since 2004’s You Do Your Thing.

Produced by Michael Knox (Jason Aldean, Justin Moore), Montgomery Gentry shed some of the sleek production of their most recent efforts in favor of a looser, raw feel on the eleven-song set. The first single “Where I Come From,” a mid-tempo, hometown proclamation, features acoustic/electric guitars and pedal steel as the duo employs their trademark handoff from Eddie singing the verse to Troy taking the chorus. See that door right there, it ain’t never been locked/ and I guarantee it never will, Eddie sings on the verse as the song recalls past hits like “My Town.”

Pride in one’s upbringing and where one is from have always been themes close to Montgomery Gentry. “Damn Right I Am,” the album’s opening track, is an up-tempo country rocker infused with patriotism. Over a thick rhythm section, Troy leans into each line of the chorus, singing, Am I proud that all I see is black and white, wrong or right and there ain’t no changing me?/ Am I proud of where I stand?, before Eddie adds with patient, emphasized timing, You damn right I am.

Eddie again shows his knack for timing on “Damn Baby,” an 80s rock-tinged track in which he eases into the first verse with a wink. After a steady bass drum and building guitars, he slyly sings the title words as the music cuts out from underneath his vocal. The result is like being part of a good natured, inside joke when the storyteller immediately grabs the listener’s attention with a friendly jab.

Troy takes the lead on “Missing You,” a slow, acoustic piece featuring one of the album’s finest melodies. Continue Reading

ShareThis

Trace Adkins on the set of Day Jobs.

Before the hit songs, awards and thousands of screaming fans, country stars held day jobs just like those who love their music. In Day Jobs, an original series premiering on Sunday, October 2 at 8 PM/ET, several of today’s top stars step away from the stage lights and put in a full day’s work the way they did before they made it big.

Each one-hour episode of Day Jobs follows three stars as they work a shift in a variety of jobs ranging from offshore oil rig roughneck to cattle rancher, women’s shoe salesman, pilot and waitress. As they work, they realize just how far they’ve come and how those early jobs helped shaped their life today.

Every participant agreed to put in a full eight-hour day and some had to undergo additional training. Before Trace Adkins returned to his former job as a roughneck on an offshore oil rig, he had to spend a day in safety training. Joe Nichols had to become certified to drive a forklift before spending a day loading pallets and filling orders in a warehouse. Continue Reading

ShareThis

Montgomery Gentry on the set of their new video for "Where I Come From" with director Potsy Poncirili

The new music video from Montgomery Gentry for their latest single, “Where I Come From,” was directed by “Potsy” Ponciroli and produced by Chris Connor for Team Genius Productions.  It’s one of the most intense, impactful videos ever done by the duo.

Eddie and Troy worked with Potsy and came up with the concept of having the video tell the story from a deployed soldier’s viewpoint.  Continue Reading

ShareThis

Miranda Lambert (3rd R) and her bachelorette party attend the 137th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7, 2011 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

Miranda Lambert spent her last weekend as a single woman with her bridesmaids in Louisville, Kentucky, celebrating her upcoming wedding to Blake Shelton and taking in the Kentucky Derby according to The Examiner. Miranda and her bridesmaids were spotted at several Derby-related events and Miranda joined Easton Corbin on stage at Forth Street Live Thursday night. Continue Reading

ShareThis

Country music stars sure love Twitter! Here at GAC, we follow them too. This week, Brett Eldredge impersonates Diddy, Lady Antebellum‘s Charles Kelley promotes his brother Josh Kelley‘s new CD (along with Miranda Lambert), Montgomery Gentry tweets from the studio and more. Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week. 

Brett Eldredge:   @bretteldredge    Got my country @iamdiddy look goin on…That would be the worlds biggest bottle of @OfficialCiroc 

Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley:  @ladyantebellum    Just downloaded my bro Josh Kelley’s new record from itunes. it’s so good, so proud of him. You will love it, trust me. – ck

Miranda Lambert:  @Miranda_Lambert    My friend Josh Kelley’s record is out!!!! Go get it:)

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/DierksBentley.

Dierks Bentley:   @DierksBentley    from the stage last night in Pittsburgh… hope I got whoever’s camera that was in the picture!

Kellie Pickler:  @kelliepickler    In the studio with the best musicians ever. I’m surrounded by brilliance, talent, & grace. New music is on the way, thanks 4 your patience. Continue Reading

ShareThis

Montgomery Gentry with Average Joe's Entertainment staff. L-R: Dennis Entertainment's Alicia Lanier Jones, AVJ's CEO Shannon Houchins, Troy Gentry, Eddie Montgomery, AVJ's President Tom Badrica, and Dennis Entertainment's John Dennis. Photo courtesy of Essential Broadcast Media. Photo Credit: Randi Radcliff

Montgomery Gentry has a new musical home. They’ve signed with Average Joe Entertainment after parting ways with Sony Music last year. The multiplatinum duo is excited about the move and plan to release their first single on the label in the spring.

“We couldn’t be happier to be signing with Shannon [Houchins] and Tom [Baldrica] and the guys at Average Joe’s,” Eddie Montgomery said.  “Those guys are cut from the same cloth we are and man, they are so creative.  We can’t wait to get this new project out there to our fans!”

“Eddie and I are really excited about this new partnership with Average Joe’s,” Troy Gentry said. “We love the team they have in place and the passion and excitement that they bring.  We look forward to going in and making a project we’re all proud of.” Continue Reading

ShareThis

Country music stars sure love Twitter! Here at GAC, we follow them too. This week, Gloriana‘s Mike Gossin has a little fun in baggage claim, Jimmy Wayne hikes with his dog and Montgomery Gentry‘s Eddie Montgomery dreams of steak while on a diet. Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week.

Gloriana's Mike Gossin, photo courtesy of Twitter.com/glorianatheband.

Gloriana:  @glorianatheband    Just landed in seattle. For ole time sake! GTV “Mike at airport”-Mike

Jack Ingram:  @JackIngram    Givin my mornin viewing away but just saw Adele on Today show and that song is Killer! Wow! Sounds great!

Taylor Swift:  @taylorswift13    I love Tokyo, I love Tokyo, I love Tokyo! Thank you for two magical nights at the Budokan. Unforgettable.

Kellie Pickler:  @kelliepickler  rolling down the highway in my tour bus. gonna hop in the shower and attempt shaving my legs, hope we don’t hit a pot hole.

LeAnn Rimes:  @leannrimes    Only in Texas would you see horses tied up at the gas station Continue Reading

ShareThis

Josh Turner, wife Jennifer and sons Hampton, 3, and Colby, 1. Photo (from fall 2009) courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Josh Turner, Rascal Flatts bass player Jay DeMarcus and Montgomery Gentry’s Eddie Montgomery all have reason for joy in the holiday season.

Two of them welcomed babies this week, and Eddie came out OK after a surgery that probably made him a little nervous.

Here’s what’s up for several of country’s best-known personalities:

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Montgomery Gentry photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Editor’s note: Story updated with Tracy Montgomery’s response on Dec. 2, courtesy of WLEX-TV in Lexington, Ky.

Eddie Montgomery got served by a waiter when he had dinner with his daughter at his steakhouse in Kentucky Tuesday night.

And he got served divorce papers by an officer of the court.

Eddie, one-half of Montgomery Gentry, was rocked by the marital split from Tracy, who chose to leave him as he prepares for surgery this month for prostate cancer. The couple has been together more than 20 years, but she did not feel strong enough to go through his health battle with him. Eddie reacted with shock, posting notes to his fans on Twitter and Facebook, though he’s since taken them down.

Continue Reading

ShareThis