E-Mail This Article to a Friend Redneck and white, with a little blooze (continued)
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As a personality with a touch of the renegade in her, Wilson comes through best on tracks like the shuffling "When It Rains," another clever collaboration with Rich: "When it rains, I pour a couple more rounds/Till the hurtin’ and the heartache start to drown." Dwight Yoakam and Jim Beam are her reference points here, along with all those years behind the bar. Unfortunately, the rockier closer, "Pocahontas Proud," is more Eagles cheese than Skynyrd stomp. "I’m the biggest thing that ever came from my home town," she sings, almost as if to warn us all that after all those years behind small-town bars, she’s acquired a haughty-girl mean streak that, if not kept in check, might overshadow the naughty redneck woman who’s made such an impact on the charts.

ON JULY 24 AT GILLETTE STADIUM in Foxborough, Montgomery Gentry are joining Wilson in opening for Toby Keith. That’s not all the two have in common: they’re both part of the Sony Nashville family, and they used many of the same writers and producers on their new albums. Also like Wilson, MG have been riding high on the charts this year. Their fourth CD, You Do Your Thing (Columbia), became their first to hit the Top 10 when it came out in May, and it’s already shipped gold. And the Kentucky duo just topped the country singles chart for the first time with the infectious "If You Ever Stop Loving Me."

The video for "Loving" says it all about MG’s working-class appeal. Dressed in black, the singers give an intimate outdoor performance at a nighttime motorcycle rally. Guitar-slinging Troy Gentry handles lead vocals while Eddie Montgomery does back-ups and twirls his microphone stand for the camera. The basic plot (teen longhair gets in fight with redneck dad, takes off on bike) echoes the song’s opening verse: "My old man’s backhand used to land hard on the side of my head/I just learned to stay out of his way." Acoustic guitars settle into a friendly strum, and love sees the boys through hard times on the happy-go-lucky chorus. As the track fades, Gentry sneaks in a playful quote from the Marshall Tucker Band.

Writing is not MG’s forte: "Loving" was penned and produced by Rivers Rutherford, who also worked on Wilson’s "Homewrecker." And the duo have been happy to leave the songwriting to others throughout their career. But they’ve been elite performers ever since bursting onto the scene with their 1999 debut, Tattoos & Scars, which featured the roadhouse blues breakthrough "Lonely and Gone." At that point, the singers had already paid their dues on the country fringes: Montgomery had even spent some time on the road with his younger brother, solo star John Michael. When they beat out Brooks & Dunn for the Vocal Duo of the Year trophy at the 2000 CMA awards, it was clear they had arrived. And the blustery title track of 2002’s My Town set the stage for the crossover success of "Loving."

On You Do Your Thing, MG once again reconcile their sentimental leanings with their outlaw hearts. Montgomery establishes himself as the tough guy right off the bat with the title track, on which he declines to "spare the rod" and dares anyone to advise him otherwise: "You know, to me it’s all just common sense/A broken rule, a consequence/You do your thing, I’ll do mine." The smoldering blooze of that song paves the way for "If It’s the Last Thing I Do," which gives Brooks & Dunn a run for their money with its Stonesy kick.

Montgomery’s most affecting performance comes on "She Loved Me," a heartwrenching ballad that follows a turbulent marriage from beginning to end. Written by long-time MG accomplice Jeffrey Steele, this one has everything you could ask for in a country song: hot alley-way sex, rehab, and "Sweet Home Alabama" guitars. His woman leaves him again on "All I Know About Mexico"; after three break-up songs in a row, Gentry finally decides to "not give a damn" on "I Got Drunk."

You Do Your Thing has its weaknesses: the rockers "Gone" and "It’s All Good" are as uninspired as their titles. But just when the second half of the album starts to run out of steam, Hank Jr. saves the day by stopping by to share a duet with Montgomery on Rutherford’s redemptive "I Ain’t Got It All That Bad." "There are those that never made it back/Me, I got lucky, found a landing pad," he sings over a gentle acoustic backing track. Like Ol’ Bocephus, Wilson, and many generations of country stars before them, MG have forged a distinguished career out of facing their demons and living to tell about it.

Gretchen Wilson and Montgomery Gentry open for Toby Keith this Saturday, July 24, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough; call (508) 543-3900. Wilson also performs this Sunday, July 25, at Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine; call (207) 874-8793.