Country fans mourned when Montgomery Gentry duo’s Troy Gentry tragically passed away in a helicopter crash on Sept. 8. But perhaps no one felt his loss more significantly, except for Gentry’s wife and children, than his duo partner, Eddie Montgomery, who suddenly faced the stage, and his future, alone.
Gentry passed away only two days after the pair completed their ninth studio album, Here’s to You. Montgomery could have let the record be the final chapter of Montgomery Gentry’s career, but instead, the 54-year-old decided to hit the road this year, on the Here’s to You Tour, kicking off on Jan. 19 in Sioux Falls, S.D.
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“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Montgomery admits to SiriusXM’s The Highway. “And then I got to thinking about it — T-Roy and I actually had a talk a long time ago, as brothers, if something ever happened, each of us definitely want the other one to keep going, and keep the Montomgery Gentry brand, and keep it rocking. Everybody is so excited to get back out. It [was] just a lot of emotions, when we hit the first rehearsal and getting through that. It’s coming together, and like I said, I think T would be kicking us in the rear end hard if we wouldn’t.”
Montgomery Gentry might be touring without his singing partner of almost 20 years, but he insists Gentry’s memory will live on, on and off stage.
“If you ever met Troy, you’d never forget him, because he’s got that big, big smile,” says Montgomery. “He was always a prankster, pulling jokes, doing something. He really loved to live life, and that’s what it was all about. We had a lot of fun. A lot of times we had a little too much fun. That’s why he was singing ‘Better Me.’ As we got a little older, then we got a little smarter.”
“Better Me,” which says “I might cuss and fight, tell a few lies / Break a few rules, making promises I can’t keep / But I’ve turned the page on wilder days / I’m writing all this down hoping you’ll see / I ain’t saying I’m perfect, but I’m working on a better me,” is the debut single from Here’s to You, out Feb. 2. Pre-order the album on Amazon and iTunes.
A list of all of Montgomery Gentry’s upcoming shows is available on their website.
Photo Credit: Instagram/MontgomeryGentry
