Montgomery Gentry’s Eddie Montgomery Talks Roots, Music, and What Fans Can Expect at Auglaize County Fair Concert
With the Auglaize County Fair just around the corner, country fans across the region are gearing up for what’s shaping up to be one of the summer’s biggest nights: Montgomery Gentry featuring Eddie Montgomery, live on Saturday, August 2nd.
Friday morning, Eddie Montgomery himself joined Dave and Victoria on 92.1 The Frog for a candid, heartfelt conversation about his journey in country music — and why this show means so much to him.
“Thanks for having me, man,” Eddie said with a warm laugh. “How y’all doing this morning?”
Eddie’s country roots run deep. He started out behind the drums in his dad’s band while his mom kept time on her own kit. “The bartenders were our babysitters,” he joked. “We grew up in honky-tonks and probably saw a few things we shouldn’t have—but we learned a lot.”
In the ‘80s, Eddie teamed up with his brother John Michael Montgomery and friend Troy Gentry to start a band. At the time, Eddie was still playing drums, but it didn’t take long before he moved out front and the trio started turning heads across Kentucky.
When John Michael landed a deal with Atlantic Records, Eddie and Troy kept the music going—playing small-town bars, doing charity gigs, and slowly building something bigger. “We didn’t wait on Nashville to put it together. We built it on our own, and eventually Nashville came to us in Lexington,” Eddie said.
That kind of grassroots grit defined Montgomery Gentry from day one. “Me and T-Roy, what you saw was what you got. We were a little wild, a little rowdy, and every time we walked into Sony Columbia, they’d go, ‘Uh oh, here comes Montgomery Gentry.’ The name stuck—and so did we.”
Of course, for Eddie, continuing the music without Troy hasn’t been easy. “He loved life,” Eddie said quietly. “We knew each other longer than we knew our wives. We got each other in and out of trouble more times than I can count. But we made a promise—over a little Jim Beam—that if one of us went down, the other would keep the name going.”
These days, that’s exactly what Eddie is doing—with the same band that’s been with him for nearly three decades.
And when it comes to fans? “We never called them fans,” he said. “They’re friends. And they’ve had our backs since ‘Tattoos & Scars.’ As long as they still want to hear us, we’ll be out there singing.”
Montgomery Gentry featuring Eddie Montgomery hits the Auglaize County Fair grandstand on Saturday, August 2nd, with Brother Believe Me opening the night. Visit auglaizecountyfair.org/tickets.
