Montgomery Gentry walks in Memphis for latest album
Earlier this week, I spoke on the phone with Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry in preparation for the duo’s big Friday night show at the Zoo Amphitheatre. (Be sure to check out my review of that show, Country Fest 2008, here on the blog.)
Montgomery and musical partner Troy Gentry released this summer their latest album “Back When I Knew It All,” with the title track ascending to the top of the charts faster than any other song in their 10 years on the national scene. Montgomery talked to me at length about the duo and their band going to Memphis to make the album.
“Well, I tell you, we recorded at Ardent Studios and as soon as you walk in, there’s just this kind of ghost feeling. I mean, there’s ghost in this building, I know there are, because you walk in and you see where … Led Zeppelin’s been there, ZZ Top’s been there, B.B. King, the Rev. Al Green, Steve Earle. … The list goes on and on.
“The equipment they use is out of the ’50s and ’60s. … I tell you, I knew it was going to be a great, great album when the guy was having problem with the board and he walked over and hit the heck out of the board … and all at once the board lit up and come on and started working. And I went, “Uh-oh, this is gonna be a killer album.”
“So, it’s not homogenized you know. I mean, I love Nashville to death but they’ve got everything brand new in electronics and sometimes they can take the soul right out of a record.”
He said going to Memphis really helped the band escape the distractions of Nashville, and they all bonded as they ate, hung out and went drinking together. They also took a private tour of Graceland and soaked up the musical heritage on Beale Street.
“You can’t go to Memphis and not see Graceland and Beale Street. Let’s put it, this way, we was all up and down Beale Street,” he said.
He continued, “There’s just so much soul there … Troy had his Elvis glasses on and everything singing in there.”
With the duo’s love for Southern rock, honky-tonk music, outlaw country and straight-up rock ‘n’ roll, it should come as no surprise that Montgomery likes that country music has become a bit more all-inclusive.
“I think we’re opening up wider. I like it, I love it because country music used to be so stereotyped; you know, you play the record backward and you get your dog back, your ex-wife back, you’re truck back. Nowadays, it’s opened up so much. I mean, you’ve got Kidd Rock on country radio. You’ve got people … like Miss Taylor Swift is crossing over to pop radio. To me, I think it’s totally awesome because if Lynyrd Skynyrd or the Eagles was to come out nowadays they’d be country.”
He added, “It’s not just a flat-top guitar and a drum and singing about how bad life is. We’re singing about everything, and I love it. And I think people can relate to it, and I think your audience is bigger because they can relate to it.”
-BAM
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