After Troy Gentry’s death in a 2017 helicopter crash, Eddie Montgomery took a step back to mourn for his singing partner of over 20 years. He wasn’t in a hurry to get back onto the stage and was definitely not in a hurry to release their new album that they had finished just days before Gentry died.
But as Montgomery stated, it was time to do both. In January, he went he back out on the road with the rest of the band for a tour that will run through September and in February the new Montgomery Gentry album Here’s To You, was released. He knew it was the right thing to do as he and Gentry had talked about such a circumstance earlier in their career.
“I always thought I was going to be first,” Montgomery stated in an interview with CMT. “We talked about it because I like to live on the wild side — me and him both. I wanted to keep going because I know T-Roy would be right here going, ‘I’m going to kick your ass if you don’t get out there and keep this going.’ I can’t wait to get out and play the music.”
Montgomery had his time to mourn, but it didn’t take long for the questions about what the future of the band would be after Gentry’s death.
“The label was asking me and so were our friends, and the band was coming to me like, ‘What are we thinking now?'” Montgomery explains. “I was like, ‘I’m not sure, guys. What do you think?’ Then we talked to [Gentry’s widow] Angie, and she said, ‘You know Troy would want you to do this.'”
The Here’s To You Tour started off in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and before singing “Something To Be Proud Of,” Montgomery introduced the song by saying, “The last 5 1/2 months… it’s been hell, but I wanna thank y’all for having our backs. All these guys up here, they’ve been with me and T for 20 years, 25 or better. And I’m gonna tell you, that is something to be proud of, baby!”
Montgomery started the song as he always did, but when it came time for Gentry’s part, he lowered his mic and let his band take over. It couldn’t have been an easy moment for him, after performing together and spending as much time as they did with one another.
“I know I’m supposed to be a big badass outlaw or whatever, but when we hit the stage a couple weeks ago without him, I was so nervous,” Eddie said in a an interview with Rolling Stone. “I was like ‘Oh my God’ – I thought I was gonna get sick. But finally I felt him in there, and I started smiling.”
The decision to have the band take over and sing on Gentry’s parts of songs was an easy one for Montgomery.
“Most of our [band members] have been with us 20 or 25 years, so we’re family. We’ve been through some stuff – personal stuff – and we’ve always helped each other out,” he continued. “So we had a meeting on it and decided, ‘We can do this, and T would want us to do it, because it’s always been a brotherhood.’”
As far as what the future holds after the Here’s To You Tour hasn’t been decided. Montgomery is just taking it show by show and he knows that the fans will tell them what they want.
“I’m gonna leave that up to our friends, and we’ll know by the end of the tour this year,” he said, using the name that they have always used in place of the word “fans.” “They’ll either tell me to go home, or ‘Hey man, can we have some more music?’”
Montgomery Gentry will be performing at Thirsty Cowboy in Medina on Friday, March 16 at 10pm, along with special guest Ray Scott who will open the show at 8:30pm. Tickets are $25/advance; $30/day of show and are available at ThirstyCowboy.com.
