Release Date:
June 9, 2015
Label: Blaster
Records
Producer: Michael
Knox
Kitch’s Rating: 8.5/10
If you go right back to 1999, when Montgomery Gentry – the duo
comprised of Kentuckians Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry – burst onto the
scene, and listen to the tracks from their debut album, Tattoos and Scars, you hear something that very much resembles the
sort of music that is propelling modern-day artists like Brantley Gilbert and Jason
Aldean into the country stratosphere.
That’s right, back before Aldean and his ilk were singing
about girls, trucks, beer, summer nights and small towns, and doing so with the
sort of screaming guitars and thumping drums that wouldn’t be out of place on a
hard rock album. They share the same producer, Michael Knox, with Aldean, and
you can definitely hear that. Make no mistake, it’s Montgomery Gentry who started
the bro-country craze that’s gripped country music for a few years now, and
shows no sign of letting go. It’s safe to say, though, that we won’t see the
duo collaborating with Nelly or Ludacris or any other rapper anytime soon.
In that light, it’s ironic that the new iteration of country
rock artists have pushed Montgomery Gentry down from the top of the charts, but
diminished mainstream popularity and a change of labels – their second label
change since early 2011, after leaving Average Joe’s in 2014 for Blaster Records
– hasn’t made the duo forget how to make good, edgy southern-rock. There’s a
lot of guitar on this album, and it’s great.
After four years without a new studio recording, it’s been a
long time coming for fans, and it’s good to be able to report that Folks Like Us is a very strong entry in
the Montgomery Gentry discography. As you’d expect, it delivers a stack of
hard-driving anthems about small town America, which has long been the duo’s
stock in trade. The title track is great, as is the first single ‘Headlights’, definitely
a party anthem, and, at the moment, my favourite. The catchy banjo-driven riff
that underlines this song will definitely get into your head. And stay there.
I’m also really enjoying the first track, ‘We Were Here’,
which us a retrospective tale, two men looking back on the lives they’ve led.
It’s not hard to imagine that there’s a little tinge of the autobiographical in
that one. Same goes for ‘That’s Just Living’ – another track that is about
mature-aged men taking stock in their lives. Considering Gentry and Montgomery
are at that stage, it’s not surprising.
Folks Like Us
employs both party songs and more introspective songs, and works very well as a
result. The rocking ‘Hillbilly Hippies’ is a fun, backwoods anthem that hits
all the clichés but still sounds original. Montgomery Gentry are one of those
groups who put out songs that are instantly recognisable. You know them when
they come on your radio or iPod.
Of course, there’s a song about a dirt road, heading down to
the levee with some girls and a jar of moonshine. That’s almost expected on a Montgomery
Gentry album, but it’s a good tune, a sort of slowed-down dirty southern rock
anthem, and it’s fun. The country traditionalists may scoff at the lyrical
nature of these songs, but if they sound good – and these songs do sound good –
what’s the problem?
If you enjoy your country with a little rock, go out and
pick up the new Montgomery Gentry release. Folks
Like Us won’t disappoint.
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