Montgomery Gentry brings new tunes to Sonoma County Fair

Over the past 16 years in the country music business, Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry have tried to keep it real and honest and true to their taste in music. But there were a few moments along the way when they felt pressured to record something that didn’t feel right.

“At the end of our Sony relationship, there was a song that we cut because they said, ‘Hey, you need to cut something that’s a little bit more like what’s on radio now and a little more commercial.’ And so we did, and we sent it out to radio, and it didn’t do very well. And radio went back to the record label and said, ‘That’s not Montgomery Gentry. That’s not what we want to hear.’?”

So the duo released their new album, “Folks Like Us,” on an indie label, which means “you don’t have a bunch of executives breathing down your neck and trying to influence you to pick one song over another,” Troy Gentry said.

It also means “you don’t have the resources the major labels have.”

For a Kentucky bar band that scored its first hit with “Hillbilly Shoes” in 1999, it’s been quite a journey, backed by major labels most of the way and littered with No. 1 hits like “If You Ever Stop Loving Me,” “Something to Be Proud Of,” “Lucky Man,” “Back When I Knew It All” and “Roll with Me.”

Now, armed with a new batch of songs, they’re getting back on the road this summer, making the rounds from county fairs to casinos to rodeos.

Before they drop by Aug. 4 at the Sonoma County Fair, Gentry took a tour break (outside a joint called Micky Rat’s Beach Club along Lake Erie, south of Buffalo, N.Y.) to chat about hippies, patient wives and the sad demise of their personal traveling bartender.

Q: How’s the tour treating you so far?

A: It’s great. It’s a breath of fresh air this year to have a new album launch. For me, it’s exciting because we get to add new songs to our set list.

Q: How is the new material going over?

A: Really good. We’ve had a couple of singles off the new album that are going over well. And we started doing a third song over the holiday weekend called “Hillbilly Hippies.”

Q: I was just listening to that - “Let’s all hang out, tip it back and get trippy!” What did you think when you first heard those lyrics on the demo?

A: I heard a hit. A friend of mine, Wendell Mobley, who’s one of the writers on that song, when he sent it over to me, it was an automatic “We gotta cut this song.”

Not only because the lyrics are comical and funny, but it’s got a great groove to it.

Q: There are also quite a few reflective songs on the album, like “Two Old Friends” or “That’s Just Living.” Is that a sign of where you guys are in life now? You wouldn’t have put those on (the debut album) “Tattoos and Scars” 16 years ago.

A: No, definitely not. These songs are part of where we’re at in our career and our lives now. There’s another song on there - I sang it in part for my wife - “Better For It.” It’s one of those songs, when you hear it you know it’s not going to be a hit, but it’s got a great message to it.

My wife’s been with me since long before we started touring. She’s seen all the highs and lows and ups and downs. She’s seen my partying days slow down and me mature into a father and a husband.

And it’s because of her I was able to make these changes. So when I heard that song, I said it needs to be on the album - not just for me, but for my wife as well.

Q: How has the backstage changed over the years?

A: It has slowed down. It used to be just one big party all the time.

We actually had a dedicated bartender on the road (through their sponsorship with Jim Beam) to take care of all of our guests.

Throughout the years, that has slowly died down, especially over the last four or five years.

It’s almost come to a complete halt, as we get older and more mature and have families and stuff like that. We’ve had to put the partying on the back burner.

Bay Area freelancer John Beck writes about entertainment for The Press Democrat. You can reach him at 280-8014 or john@beckmediaproductions.com.

2015 Sonoma County Fair Concerts