Eddie Montgomery Breaks Silence on Troy Gentry’s Death

On September 8th, Eddie Montgomery’s world was rocked by the death of his friend and country music collaborator Troy Gentry. In a recent interview with PEOPLE, Montgomery finally opened up about how the loss is affecting him. “It’s weird, I always thought it was going to be me that went down first,” he said.

“They texted us about a week before saying, ‘We have helicopter rides!’ We wanted to do it,” Montgomery said, recalling the day of the tragic accident that took his friend of 30 years. Just minutes after taking off, the helicopter’s engine failed, and the aircraft crashed in a wooded area not far from the runway.

The helicopter’s pilot was killed on impact, and Gentry was rushed to Virtua Marlton Hospital. Later that same day, the 50-year-old country star passed away, with his friend beside him.

“It was a horrific day, my world changed as much as the band did,” Montgomery recounts. “It’s something that you never get over. It’s going to be in my mind and my soul for the rest of my life.”

Montgomery says that the duo had discussed how each of them would handle the death of the other in the past. Now, he faces the reality — the last album he ever got to make with his friend, titled Here’s to You, will be released on February 2nd, 2018.

Montgomery told PEOPLE that his relationship with Gentry not only preceded their success, it came before they ever played together.

“We were friends before we were ever in the music business,” he said.

He reminisced on their days hunting, fishing, and partying. “Mostly we’d go around and listen to a lot of bands and think how we could make ourselves better,” he added.

That field research led Montgomery Gentry to huge success.

That success culminated in Gentry’s memorial service on September 14th, when 1,500 people gathered to hear the band in the Grand Ole Oprey.

“We never called anyone fans—we called them friends, and Me and Troy have been blessed over the years to have a lot of friends,” Montgomery said.

Still, after nearly three months of consideration, Montgomery has decided that it’s not going to end there.

“I’ve never done anything else but play music,” he said simply.

He explained that continuing the project that they both loved so much is the best way he can imagine to honor his lifelong friend. In January, Montgomery will head back out on the road, touring with the songs he created with Troy Gentry.

“As far as I’m concerned, we’re still making music together,” he said.