There is something particular about the way Eddie Montgomery sings the word “proud” in “Something to Be Proud Of” — a hitch at the top of his baritone that sounds less like performance and more like testimony. That song was a number-one hit for Montgomery Gentry in 2004, built out of the kind of blue-collar conviction that Montgomery and his late partner Troy Gentry wore like a work shirt. Hearing Eddie sing it now, nearly a decade after Troy’s passing, it carries something extra — not grief exactly, but weight. On Thursday, August 6, Montgomery Gentry: Featuring Eddie Montgomery brings that weight, and those songs, to the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda.
About Montgomery Gentry
Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry were both Kentucky boys, shaped by the same tradition of hard-living honky-tonk and Southern rock that runs from Hank Williams Jr. and Charlie Daniels through the work-and-worship country that found its commercial peak in the late nineties and early 2000s. Eddie grew up around his family’s bars and clubs in central Kentucky — live music wasn’t a hobby, it was furniture — while Troy won a national talent contest that sent him out on the road with Reba McEntire. Eddie’s brother is John Michael Montgomery, the ’90s country hitmaker, and before the duo formed, Eddie had been playing in a band called Early Tymz alongside him.
When they came together and launched Tattoos & Scars in 1999, the debut album went platinum and landed in the country Top 10. The sound was immediately identifiable: gritty Southern rock guitars wrapped around tight vocal harmonies, with working-class stories at the center. Critics noted what fans already felt — these were barroom songs with arena-level heart. Montgomery’s rough, swaggering baritone and Gentry’s smoother tone locked together in a way that felt earned rather than engineered.
What followed was a run of genuine hit-making that lasted the better part of two decades. Five songs reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart: “If You Ever Stop Loving Me,” “Something to Be Proud Of,” “Lucky Man,” “Back When I Knew It All,” and “Roll With Me.” “My Town” became a small-town anthem with real staying power. “Hell Yeah” became the kind of call-and-response crowd-pleaser that kept getting programmed into festival sets long after it first charted. The duo earned CMA Vocal Duo of the Year in 2000, ending Brooks & Dunn’s eight-year run at the top of that category — which was no small thing. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2009, and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame claimed them in 2015. “Lucky Man” earned the duo a Grammy nomination for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group — well-deserved recognition for a song that still sounds, on first listen, like it was written about someone you know.
Troy Gentry died in a helicopter crash in September 2017. His loss hit country music hard and personally — he and Eddie had been building something together for nearly twenty years. Eddie Montgomery has continued performing under the Montgomery Gentry name with Troy’s family’s blessing, carrying the catalog and the spirit forward. That act of continuity is, in itself, a kind of statement about what these songs mean and to whom they belong.
The Show
Opening the evening is Jeffrey Steele, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer with over 65 million airplays to his name and seven Grammy nominations earned across a career that has touched nearly every corner of commercial country music. He co-wrote Montgomery Gentry’s Top 5 hit “Speed,” which gives the evening a pleasing full-circle quality — the songs and the songwriters in the same room on the same night.
The Riviera Theatre holds 1,100 people, which is a good size for this kind of show. Intimate enough that the vocals land with weight, big enough that the energy can build the way these songs want to build. Montgomery Gentry’s music was made for rooms that push back a little — not arenas, not coffeehouses, but a proper Western New York theater where a crowd can sing loud and nobody apologizes for it. If you have been sitting on seeing Eddie Montgomery do this for a few years, this one is worth making the drive.
Tickets & Details
Montgomery Gentry: Featuring Eddie Montgomery plays the Riviera Theatre, 67 Webster St, North Tonawanda, NY on Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 7:30 PM. Tickets are priced at $39–$59 and are available at rivieratheatre.org.