Montgomery Gentry released their final album recorded as a duo, Here’s To You, on Friday – four months after the death of Troy Gentry left Eddie Montgomery to carry on solo.
Here’s To You – originally penned as the duo’s 20th anniversary album – was reportedly completed just two days before Gentry’s helicopter crash Sep. 8.
Montgomery promised to keep the music and name alive.
"We had talked about this after we had got our deal and stuff and said, 'Man, if either one of us ever go down, we want Montgomery Gentry to keep going' — we told each other that," Montgomery said in an interview with Taste Of Country Nights. "And that's what's so weird about it, because it was just kind of something we talked about a long time ago and just kind of put it off and didn't think nothing about it, and then this happens.”
The album’s first single “Better Me” was Gentry’s only-ever attempt at breaking band tradition and singing the lead on the track. Montgomery revealed that Gentry felt very passionate about the song’s message of self-improvement and leaving wilder days in the past.
"The song really speaks to who he was," Montgomery said of the single, to Rolling Stone. "I know he'd want people to hear it. If he thought ‘Better Me' would change one person's life, he'd want them to hear it.”
Montgomery admitted that he almost didn’t want to listen to their new music, due to the swirling emotions and intensity of grieving the loss of his best friend. However, he has now personally found comfort in hearing their latest work.
"At first it was like, 'I don't know if I want to [listen],' but eventually I gave in and it's really helped me," Montgomery revealed. "Just hearing his voice, I reckon. Every time I listen to it or hear one of the songs, it takes me back to times that we had – you know like back before we started growing up.”
Although it is too soon to tell what the future will bring with Montgomery now keeping their legacy alive solo, he will be sharing Gentry’s vocals with his band of 20 years on the Here’s To You tour.
"I definitely want to make sure we don't ever forget him, but of course, anybody who met him, you'd never forget him," he added. "It's just, I don't want to think about the accident, I want to think about all the great times we had. Because I know damn well I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him. We had something that we didn't even know.”
The Here’s To You tour kicks off this month, with scheduled shows across the U.S. through September.
"We're going to keep it rockin' and T-Roy will be right there with us. I guarantee it.”
Listen to "Better Me" below: