Montgomery Gentry

“There’s not enough days in the year to play onstage. We’d play 24 hours a day if they’d let us,” said Eddie Montgomery, half of the duo, which includes Troy Gentry. “If you took that away from us, you’d be basically cutting our hearts out,” he told POLLSTAR.

Their maiden tour began December 2nd as a national radio promo trek for their first single, “Hillbilly Shoes.” After their debut album, Tattoos & Scars, was released in April, the radio road show entered the concert-circuit mode.

As they shifted gears and sped from stage to stage, they discovered the worst part of life on the road was being away from family. Since the first of the year, the pair has spent about 20 days at home. The best part, though, was traveling and spreading their music nationally.

“It’s better now that we’ve got a 45-foot tour bus instead of a ’73 Pinto,” said Montgomery, 35, laughing.

These good ol’ boys from Kentucky, who play up a bad-boy image, are making the most of touring. Both agreed they wouldn’t change anything next time around. They’re also basking in the afterglow of August’s CMA duo of the year nod; Tattoos & Scars’ No. 10 entry point onto Billboard’s country chart; the success of their second single, “Lonely and Gone”; and “Hillbilly Shoes'” ascension to No. 1 in Europe.

“I can’t say why it went to number one there the people in America might get pissed,” Gentry, 32, jokingly told POLLSTAR. “Europe is very open to different styles of music. It was just something they picked up on and enjoyed.”

The twosome gave producer Joe Scaife and the Columbia label credit for letting their gritty, unpolished sound come through on their album. The longtime friends’ musical output is influenced by outlaw-type artists such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Charlie Daniels, who joined them on a song he co-wrote. Although the pair writes songs, they searched for about 18 months for better ones by other composers, opting not to sacrifice the CD’s content just because they wrote a song.

Because of their efforts, Tatoos & Scars became Fan Fair 1999’s top-selling album.

As they continue riding the wave of success, preparations for the next project are under way. When the tour ends in March, the duo plans to cut a second album. At this stage, they’re looking for songs. Honky-tonks and bars are their preferred search grounds.

While the hunt for songs just started, the partners’ search for musical success began years ago. Gentry credits non-outlawish Randy Travis for inspiring him to pursue music.

“I remember seeing him on the awards shows and all the attention he was getting and the limelight he was in. I thought it was really cool,” the guitarist said. Shortly afterward, the high school teen started doing guest vocals with area bands.

Things were different for Montgomery. At the age of 5, he sang with his parents and then- unknown younger brother, John Michael, in the family’s band. Around 1986, the brothers teamed with Gentry, calling themselves John Michael Montgomery & Young Country.

Eventually, Gentry left to pursue a solo career. In 1994, he won the Jim Beam National Talent Contest, which led to opening gigs for Patty Loveless, Tracy Byrd, and John Michael. That early success ended soon afterward when he discovered it took more than winning a contest to open Nashville’s doors.

In 1995, Montgomery and Gentry looking for the elusive edge to distinguish them from every other act combined forces and formed Deuce. Their manager, the late Estill Sowards, encouraged them to record a demo, which he took to Sony Music Nashville President Allen Butler. Butler set up a showcase for Sony’s staff and industry insiders, and Columbia signed them.

“Everybody at Sony kept referring to us as, ‘Here comes the Montgomery Gentry boys.’ It just kind of stuck,” Gentry said of the name change.

Although the group’s moniker evolved, the two don’t foresee their music changing. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Gentry said. “This is the stuff Eddie and I are used to singing, that we’ve done all our lives. If it doesn’t work here in Nashville or if it doesn’t fit in somewhere else, we’ll find a place for it. This is the only style of stuff that we know how to sing.”

The way they see it, fate determined the road behind and ahead of them. “I believe in predestination and everything happens for a reason,” Gentry stated. “I had tried for a solo career and it didn’t happen. It was meant to happen for us to be together and for Montgomery Gentry to come together that way. I don’t foresee a solo thing ever happening for either one of us.”

Goal-wise, it’s simple “To be able to work in music,” Gentry stated. “It’s the only thing I know how to do other than be a bartender.”

Montgomery’s vision is loftier. “If 20 years from now we walked into a nightclub somewhere and someone was covering one of our songs, we could turn around to each other and say we’ve done something.”