August 1, 2025 • 16 mins
Dave and Jenn catch up with John Michael Montgomery about life and his final show coming in December!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
John Michael Montgomery. How are you, man?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm doing great, Thank you. I'm sweating my butt office
on heat this time of year is unbelievable. But I'd
rather be hot and cold.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Write me too, would you? I'd rather be cold, man.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I can't say I get mad when I'm hot.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
So what should we call you? John? John Michael? Jmm?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You know, any of the any of the above is fine.
The John Michael's fine. All my golfing buddies call me
jm I gotta got anything.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Have you been golfing in this heat?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Oh? Gosh, I was stooping one out a couple of
days ago. I mean it was brutal. I mean I
was like, why what am I doing out here? I
mean it was We tried to find every shade tree
we possibly could in between shots, but uh yeah, I
was ringing wet after about three holes, going uh yeah.
(01:00):
Of course I wouldn't plan well either, so I'd just
added thought to the.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
That makes it so much.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I'll bless your heart. Oh I know, yeah, poor pitiful me.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah. Listen, it's your final show in your hometown of Lexington, Kentucky,
The Iconic rep Arena, Friday, December twelve, of course you've
been doing it long time. Legendary career, list of accomplishments
that could fill a book, right. Do you have big
plans after your final show?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh, I'll probably go to Florida and get some sunshine
on my body, I would imagine, because you know, when
you're sick, when you're sixty years old, things hurt in
the winter that don't hurt the summer. And I like
to go down there and you know, do a little
camp and do a little crappie fishing and uh, you know,
just drilling out and you know, and join the sunshine
(01:52):
for a little bit before Christmas comes around and everything. Yeah,
I've kind of officially turned into what they call us snowbird, uh,
flying south for the winter. I hear you.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Talk a little bit about the show, the road home,
the final concert, and you're going to have very special
guests with you. Tell us a little bit about them.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh, you know, I got my crazy brother gonna be
there with me, Eddie of Montgomery Gentry. You know, me
and him grew up picking and singing music together and
my mom and dad's band, and yeah, of course we
about out of high school started our own band and
uh uh you know, and everything. Of course the rest
is h you know, uh played out wonderfully obviously, as
(02:34):
we both were lucky enough and blessed enough to be
able to get the record deals and have the success
that we have. You know. So me and him are
definitely uh going to have a good time. And then
my son Walker, who you know is down in Nashville.
He's writing and picking and singing and out on the
road and stuff. He's going to be joining me and
my son in law Travis Dinning. Uh. He had a
(02:58):
number one hit record. As a matter of fact, I
tell us to all the time back when COVID was
happening and him and my daughter Madison was standing up
here in Kentucky with us, and he had number one
record on the charts and could not go out and
tour and show it off. I was like, I don't
even know, I have no words to even tell you, buddy,
you know, I mean it was but you know he's
done well. Uh, matter of fact, he's he wrote that
(03:19):
he just wrote that song. He's a write on that
song that carry on wouldn't do it that Cody Johnson
and her did, So you know he's he's doing he's
doing real well. I think there be in mine is
getting ready to give him handym out of the ward
and everything. And of course the biggest news, you know,
with my daughter is she just had a brand new
baby girl a couple of weeks ago, So I'm a granddad. Finally,
(03:42):
I didn't I didn't know if that was ever gonna
happen or not, because he swore up down she was
never having kids, of course, you know. And yeah, it'll
be a family packed entertainment night on stage and backstage,
I can guarantee you that. Because it's been a while. Well,
I hadn't played Reparena since. Uh well, I opened up
(04:03):
for Riva there in nineteen ninety four when I was
you know, doing shows with her, and then in ninety
five when I went out on my own, I did
a show there and I hadn't you know, hadn't done
one there since. And it's my very favorite venue, of course,
you know, being from Kentucky and you know Whyking and
Fan and all that stuff, you know. So and I
(04:24):
went to a lot of concerts there back in the eighties.
You know, I saw a lot of really really good
bands from the seventies and eighties, you know, going there,
and I never I never dreamed that I would actually
be able to get on that big old stage and
do a show for myself. But I'm excited about it.
You know, it's it's bittersweet. Obviously. I've been on the
(04:45):
road for thirty three years and you know, touring, touring
is uh, you know, it's been one of my lifelong
dreams to be able to do that. But you know,
it comes to a point where your body goes, you're
too old for this. This is a young man game,
you know, I mean, it still amazes me. I mean,
Willie Nelson obviously is one of those guys that you know,
(05:08):
I think he I think he just lives on the bus,
you know. I mean, I don't know if he's I mean,
he's It's amazing to watch somebody like him continue, and
you know it's just but I just, you know, like
any athlete or anything else, there comes a point where
you look yourself in a minute ago, you know what
I think, I think I need to get my body
(05:28):
a little break here. You know. The traveling, obviously is
is the toughest thing about touring. But you know, I've been,
I've been, you know, I just I can't believe thirty
three years have gone by this fast. Obviously three decades,
you know, I mean, I still look at myself as
that young guy at Austin City Saloon in Lexingson, Kentucky,
(05:49):
wide eyed and hoping that you know, I could play
and sing music for the rest of my life, and
you know, the dream come true. So I mean, you know,
poor Piti for me again.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Right well, listen, you are gonna love your retirement after
all this, but also you're gonna love spending time with
the grandkids. Try to keep them overnight as much as possible.
I have a three year old, and trust me, it
helps your daughter keeper sanity.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Well that's what mama's are for. You know. Of course
I live, you know, i'd live here in Nicholas, still
my hometown here at just south of Lexington, but both
my kids, you know, live in Nashville, so you know,
I'll still be making trifts down there a lot, obviously
to take my wife Crystal down and to visit the
kids and the grandkids. Hopefully there's a few more come
along the way.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
That's so fun. If you could go back and give
a young John Michael Montgomery one piece of advice what.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Would that be, Oh, oh gosh, yeah, the sixty five
million dollar quest. I would have to you know, just
free musch, sit down and just write down a lot
of things. Probably I would do different though, you know, uh,
but you know the experience uh of you know, I
(07:06):
would probably just say, look, you know, it's going to
go by fast. You're gonna have some ups and downs.
Things are gonna you know, not always turn out as playing. Uh,
but you know, try to enjoy the moment as much
as possible, and uh, you know, and don't try to
fix things you have no control over. Yeah, I mean
(07:29):
that's just basically, you know, don't worry about things you
have no control over. Just uh, you know, don't try
to fix yesterday. You don't try to fix them all,
absolutely exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweating day.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Well, there you go. It's even a better way of
putting it in.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I tell my boys all the time. They're athletes, and
I tell them all the time, don't get too high
with the highs and don't get too low with the lows.
You know, try to try to say even keeled everything
of our.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
You know, And it's of course you know, in the
entertainment business. Uh, you know, I don't care what type
of entertainment you're in. I mean, you know, the highs
get really high and you know, and the lowers can
get really low. And that's what I tell my son too, obviously.
You know. He sees out there trying to you know,
make a name for himself and everything, and then there's
days you know that, you know, I tell him it's
(08:22):
kind of like shows. You go to one show and
the place is packed and you're thinking, oh man, you know,
everybody loves me. And then you go to another show
and there's about fifty people shows up and you're like, well,
you know what happened? And you know it's literally, uh,
you know, just just kind of life is like golf.
You know, sometimes you make the swing and it don't
(08:46):
turn out like you you know, and you're looking around
for your ball and you know, and then and then
you know, on the last whole, you know, you you
strike it and make birdie and you know, and you're like,
I got it, figure it out. But the rounds over
with exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Listen, do you have just a few more minutes to.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Chat with us? Sure?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Absolutely, we are big fans. Okay, I was telling my
wife last night we were going to get to Jen
and I are going to get to talk to John
Michael Montgomery today, and she was just as excited as
I was. We both immediately broke out into could you
would you age going to If I ask you, would
you want to be? And then we went straight from
(09:29):
that into soul to the Lyddy and the Long Black
Desk cut you one in my heart.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It was no contest.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Listen, you did you struggle in the beginning with getting
those lyrics down and spitting them so quickly.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Now, you know, first of all, guys, thanks to letting
me know be on your show. But uh, you know,
I remember when you know, of course I had the
love songs Last a Dance and I Love the Way
Love Me, you know, and the love song obviously was
a big thing. Now my first number one and all that,
and so on the next album, you know, I found
(10:02):
that song being my Baby to Night and I brought
it into the label and they all thought it was stupid,
you know. I mean, I had this big hit with
this salad and they were thinking, you know, we just
need to find you some more love songs. That's a
stupid song. You know. I'm like, I said, no, trust me.
People love this stuff, I said. I grew up listening
to Buck Owens, and people love this kind of stuff.
(10:23):
Tiger by the Tail, things like that, I said, you know,
And so of course I was luckily and in a
position I got my way and they let me cut it. Well,
then it became a single, you know, on the charts,
and and you know, the rest is history. So when
Soul came around and I wanted to cut it on
the next album, nobody questioned me one bit. They were like, Okay,
(10:46):
we get it now, you know. And I was like, well,
you know, I said, I played music my whole life.
I played and bard my whole life, honky tong, And
I said, when you're on stage, you know, you learn
to try to entertain the crowd with love songs and
you know, happy songs, sad song, story songs, and sometimes
you got to rock it out, you know, with them.
I said, that's just kind of in my blood. You know,
(11:08):
I'm growing up in the seventies and you know, stuff
like that. In the eighties, I was lucky enough to be
influenced by an unbelievable amount of talented people back in
those days, and you know, entertainers, and so you know,
I tried to do that with my albums. When people
listen to them, I wanted them to, you know, obviously
enjoy the love songs, but I would you know, I
(11:29):
also wanted to not be painted into a corner as
a ballader either, you know. So uh, and I think
that was definitely a big part of my success, being
able to do different kinds of songs that well, you know,
I tell people, you know, when I Swear came out,
people would say, that's going to be your biggest song,
biggest hit ever, you know, and I even believe that.
(11:51):
But if you ask people more, more people know me
by Soulder Grande County, Aux than probably any song.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Right, That's what I'm saying. That's what I remember the most.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
But you know, I don't care if you're six years
old or if you're sixty years old.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
You know, yes, well, and I don't think the dimples
really hurt, you know, your career either.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I'm just gonna mention that, well, they hurt when I
was little because everybody wanted to pinch them. Now, I
mean my grandmother. Every time I went to see my grandmother.
She grabbed me by those cheeks and just pinch them dimples.
And I'm like, God, I hate these things, you know,
but but you know it's a yeah. They you know,
I guess everybody you want to be remembered by, you
(12:31):
know things, I guess you know, dimples aren't the worst
thing to be remembered by.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
It's true, that's true.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Boy.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Listen, you mentioned I Swear. Of course there's another little song.
I can love you like that. I'm sure you've been
asked is a million times? Maybe real quickly you can
kind of give us the story of how you did
those two songs. And then a little man or little
group called All for One did them for the pop song.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Well, it was it was interesting because I had put
out I Swear and you know, and it really took
off the charts. I mean, it just, uh, you know,
took off big time. You know. I f all love
the way let me. It was gonna be my big
love song hit. And then I guess maybe about a
month after it was out, the label executive Rick Blackburn
called me in his office and you know, and I'm thinking, okay,
(13:15):
am I in trouble or what you know? And and
he said, look, he said, I just want to warn
you or let you know that there's an art you know,
there's some artists on Atlantic Records in New York getting
ready to come out with I Swear in the pop
and R and B. I said, oh really, I said,
well cool, And he said, we just wanted to make
sure that you know, you weren't going to be upset
(13:36):
about it. And I said, hey, that sounds great. Let
everybody here, every you know, every genre deserve you know,
I might have no problem with it. And so then
the next year on the next album, when I was
in the studio, uh, you know, doing the albums I
Can Love You Like That on it, Rick Blackburn had
a party at his house there in Franklin, Tennessee, just
south of Nashville. We were all there Atlantic, you know,
(13:59):
in the off of one were there and we were
talking songs and stories and they were in the studio
and I was like, yeah, I said, I said, I
got another song I just cut you guys might want
to listen to. I said, it's called I Can Love
It Like That in the leads there. Guy went, well,
we just cut that too, So so you know, the
publisher company got smart and like, Okay, we're going to
(14:20):
fix it to both artists at the same time, you know,
and hopefully they'll both cut it, which we did, you know,
And that's how all that worked out. It worked out
pretty well.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
And I love your attitude towards it to say, like, listen,
I love the song. It's a great song. I want
everyone to hear the song, no matter who's singing it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
You know. Well, yeah, you know, and you know, I
guess people like, well, you could have took that pomp
and you could have been you know, worldwide. Like I'm
not a pop singer. I don't want to be a
pop singer. I said. I'm a country singer. That's what
I grew up doing. And and I'm like, so I
really don't want to go, you know, try to cross
over and do all that stuff. I said, I'm perfectly
(14:56):
happy where I am. Let somebody else have something, you know.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I think it worked out for all parties involved, including
the fans, right.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Versions. Yeah, that's a big thing. Yeah, very good stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
We are super excited about your final show again in
Lexington rep Arena Friday, December twelfth. Tickets on sale.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Now, Yes, get up and you could win them. To
at tcrcuntry dot com slash contest man.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
We appreciate come out and enjoy the show, Come out
and see me and have some fun.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Absolutely looking forward to it. Thank you so much for
all the time you spent with us.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yes, it was a pleasure talking to you today.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Same here you as well. You all have a wonderful
day and stay cool. I'm going to go outside and
swait a little bit more. I've got believe it or not,
I still have tours to do, even you know, as
successful you know.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, you still have that honeydew leslie.
You better get to it.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Oh yeah, yeah, that'll keep coming long after I'm retired
from my singing. I believe that out no doubt. Hey, folks,
this is John Michael Montgomery and you're listening to my
friends Dave and Jent on tz R Country.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
That's perfect. Thank you so much, so much.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
We really proud enjoyed it all right, man, have a
good one. Thank you, Take care all right, Bye bye
John Michael Montgomery. How are you, man?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm doing great, Thank you. I'm sweating my butt office
on heat this time of year is unbelievable. But I'd
rather be hot and cold.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Write me too, would you? I'd rather be cold, man.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I can't say I get mad when I'm hot.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
So what should we call you? John? John Michael? Jmm?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You know, any of the any of the above is fine.
The John Michael's fine. All my golfing buddies call me
jm I gotta got anything.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Have you been golfing in this heat?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Oh? Gosh, I was stooping one out a couple of
days ago. I mean it was brutal. I mean I
was like, why what am I doing out here? I
mean it was We tried to find every shade tree
we possibly could in between shots, but uh yeah, I
was ringing wet after about three holes, going uh yeah.
(01:00):
Of course I wouldn't plan well either, so I'd just
added thought to the.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
That makes it so much.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I'll bless your heart. Oh I know, yeah, poor pitiful me.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah. Listen, it's your final show in your hometown of Lexington, Kentucky,
The Iconic rep Arena, Friday, December twelve, of course you've
been doing it long time. Legendary career, list of accomplishments
that could fill a book, right. Do you have big
plans after your final show?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh, I'll probably go to Florida and get some sunshine
on my body, I would imagine, because you know, when
you're sick, when you're sixty years old, things hurt in
the winter that don't hurt the summer. And I like
to go down there and you know, do a little
camp and do a little crappie fishing and uh, you know,
just drilling out and you know, and join the sunshine
(01:52):
for a little bit before Christmas comes around and everything. Yeah,
I've kind of officially turned into what they call us snowbird, uh,
flying south for the winter. I hear you.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Talk a little bit about the show, the road home,
the final concert, and you're going to have very special
guests with you. Tell us a little bit about them.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh, you know, I got my crazy brother gonna be
there with me, Eddie of Montgomery Gentry. You know, me
and him grew up picking and singing music together and
my mom and dad's band, and yeah, of course we
about out of high school started our own band and
uh uh you know, and everything. Of course the rest
is h you know, uh played out wonderfully obviously, as
(02:34):
we both were lucky enough and blessed enough to be
able to get the record deals and have the success
that we have. You know. So me and him are
definitely uh going to have a good time. And then
my son Walker, who you know is down in Nashville.
He's writing and picking and singing and out on the
road and stuff. He's going to be joining me and
my son in law Travis Dinning. Uh. He had a
(02:58):
number one hit record. As a matter of fact, I
tell us to all the time back when COVID was
happening and him and my daughter Madison was standing up
here in Kentucky with us, and he had number one
record on the charts and could not go out and
tour and show it off. I was like, I don't
even know, I have no words to even tell you, buddy,
you know, I mean it was but you know he's
done well. Uh, matter of fact, he's he wrote that
(03:19):
he just wrote that song. He's a write on that
song that carry on wouldn't do it that Cody Johnson
and her did, So you know he's he's doing he's
doing real well. I think there be in mine is
getting ready to give him handym out of the ward
and everything. And of course the biggest news, you know,
with my daughter is she just had a brand new
baby girl a couple of weeks ago, So I'm a granddad. Finally,
(03:42):
I didn't I didn't know if that was ever gonna
happen or not, because he swore up down she was
never having kids, of course, you know. And yeah, it'll
be a family packed entertainment night on stage and backstage,
I can guarantee you that. Because it's been a while. Well,
I hadn't played Reparena since. Uh well, I opened up
(04:03):
for Riva there in nineteen ninety four when I was
you know, doing shows with her, and then in ninety
five when I went out on my own, I did
a show there and I hadn't you know, hadn't done
one there since. And it's my very favorite venue, of course,
you know, being from Kentucky and you know Whyking and
Fan and all that stuff, you know. So and I
(04:24):
went to a lot of concerts there back in the eighties.
You know, I saw a lot of really really good
bands from the seventies and eighties, you know, going there,
and I never I never dreamed that I would actually
be able to get on that big old stage and
do a show for myself. But I'm excited about it.
You know, it's it's bittersweet. Obviously. I've been on the
(04:45):
road for thirty three years and you know, touring, touring
is uh, you know, it's been one of my lifelong
dreams to be able to do that. But you know,
it comes to a point where your body goes, you're
too old for this. This is a young man game,
you know, I mean, it still amazes me. I mean,
Willie Nelson obviously is one of those guys that you know,
(05:08):
I think he I think he just lives on the bus,
you know. I mean, I don't know if he's I mean,
he's It's amazing to watch somebody like him continue, and
you know it's just but I just, you know, like
any athlete or anything else, there comes a point where
you look yourself in a minute ago, you know what
I think, I think I need to get my body
(05:28):
a little break here. You know. The traveling, obviously is
is the toughest thing about touring. But you know, I've been,
I've been, you know, I just I can't believe thirty
three years have gone by this fast. Obviously three decades,
you know, I mean, I still look at myself as
that young guy at Austin City Saloon in Lexingson, Kentucky,
(05:49):
wide eyed and hoping that you know, I could play
and sing music for the rest of my life, and
you know, the dream come true. So I mean, you know,
poor Piti for me again.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Right well, listen, you are gonna love your retirement after
all this, but also you're gonna love spending time with
the grandkids. Try to keep them overnight as much as possible.
I have a three year old, and trust me, it
helps your daughter keeper sanity.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Well that's what mama's are for. You know. Of course
I live, you know, i'd live here in Nicholas, still
my hometown here at just south of Lexington, but both
my kids, you know, live in Nashville, so you know,
I'll still be making trifts down there a lot, obviously
to take my wife Crystal down and to visit the
kids and the grandkids. Hopefully there's a few more come
along the way.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
That's so fun. If you could go back and give
a young John Michael Montgomery one piece of advice what.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Would that be, Oh, oh gosh, yeah, the sixty five
million dollar quest. I would have to you know, just
free musch, sit down and just write down a lot
of things. Probably I would do different though, you know, uh,
but you know the experience uh of you know, I
(07:06):
would probably just say, look, you know, it's going to
go by fast. You're gonna have some ups and downs.
Things are gonna you know, not always turn out as playing. Uh,
but you know, try to enjoy the moment as much
as possible, and uh, you know, and don't try to
fix things you have no control over. Yeah, I mean
(07:29):
that's just basically, you know, don't worry about things you
have no control over. Just uh, you know, don't try
to fix yesterday. You don't try to fix them all,
absolutely exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweating day.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Well, there you go. It's even a better way of
putting it in.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I tell my boys all the time. They're athletes, and
I tell them all the time, don't get too high
with the highs and don't get too low with the lows.
You know, try to try to say even keeled everything
of our.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
You know, And it's of course you know, in the
entertainment business. Uh, you know, I don't care what type
of entertainment you're in. I mean, you know, the highs
get really high and you know, and the lowers can
get really low. And that's what I tell my son too, obviously.
You know. He sees out there trying to you know,
make a name for himself and everything, and then there's
days you know that, you know, I tell him it's
(08:22):
kind of like shows. You go to one show and
the place is packed and you're thinking, oh man, you know,
everybody loves me. And then you go to another show
and there's about fifty people shows up and you're like, well,
you know what happened? And you know it's literally, uh,
you know, just just kind of life is like golf.
You know, sometimes you make the swing and it don't
(08:46):
turn out like you you know, and you're looking around
for your ball and you know, and then and then
you know, on the last whole, you know, you you
strike it and make birdie and you know, and you're like,
I got it, figure it out. But the rounds over
with exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Listen, do you have just a few more minutes to.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Chat with us? Sure?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Absolutely, we are big fans. Okay, I was telling my
wife last night we were going to get to Jen
and I are going to get to talk to John
Michael Montgomery today, and she was just as excited as
I was. We both immediately broke out into could you
would you age going to If I ask you, would
you want to be? And then we went straight from
(09:29):
that into soul to the Lyddy and the Long Black
Desk cut you one in my heart.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It was no contest.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Listen, you did you struggle in the beginning with getting
those lyrics down and spitting them so quickly.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Now, you know, first of all, guys, thanks to letting
me know be on your show. But uh, you know,
I remember when you know, of course I had the
love songs Last a Dance and I Love the Way
Love Me, you know, and the love song obviously was
a big thing. Now my first number one and all that,
and so on the next album, you know, I found
(10:02):
that song being my Baby to Night and I brought
it into the label and they all thought it was stupid,
you know. I mean, I had this big hit with
this salad and they were thinking, you know, we just
need to find you some more love songs. That's a
stupid song. You know. I'm like, I said, no, trust me.
People love this stuff, I said. I grew up listening
to Buck Owens, and people love this kind of stuff.
(10:23):
Tiger by the Tail, things like that, I said, you know,
And so of course I was luckily and in a
position I got my way and they let me cut it. Well,
then it became a single, you know, on the charts,
and and you know, the rest is history. So when
Soul came around and I wanted to cut it on
the next album, nobody questioned me one bit. They were like, Okay,
(10:46):
we get it now, you know. And I was like, well,
you know, I said, I played music my whole life.
I played and bard my whole life, honky tong, And
I said, when you're on stage, you know, you learn
to try to entertain the crowd with love songs and
you know, happy songs, sad song, story songs, and sometimes
you got to rock it out, you know, with them.
I said, that's just kind of in my blood. You know,
(11:08):
I'm growing up in the seventies and you know, stuff
like that. In the eighties, I was lucky enough to be
influenced by an unbelievable amount of talented people back in
those days, and you know, entertainers, and so you know,
I tried to do that with my albums. When people
listen to them, I wanted them to, you know, obviously
enjoy the love songs, but I would you know, I
(11:29):
also wanted to not be painted into a corner as
a ballader either, you know. So uh, and I think
that was definitely a big part of my success, being
able to do different kinds of songs that well, you know,
I tell people, you know, when I Swear came out,
people would say, that's going to be your biggest song,
biggest hit ever, you know, and I even believe that.
(11:51):
But if you ask people more, more people know me
by Soulder Grande County, Aux than probably any song.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Right, That's what I'm saying. That's what I remember the most.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
But you know, I don't care if you're six years
old or if you're sixty years old.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
You know, yes, well, and I don't think the dimples
really hurt, you know, your career either.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I'm just gonna mention that, well, they hurt when I
was little because everybody wanted to pinch them. Now, I
mean my grandmother. Every time I went to see my grandmother.
She grabbed me by those cheeks and just pinch them dimples.
And I'm like, God, I hate these things, you know,
but but you know it's a yeah. They you know,
I guess everybody you want to be remembered by, you
(12:31):
know things, I guess you know, dimples aren't the worst
thing to be remembered by.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
It's true, that's true.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Boy.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Listen, you mentioned I Swear. Of course there's another little song.
I can love you like that. I'm sure you've been
asked is a million times? Maybe real quickly you can
kind of give us the story of how you did
those two songs. And then a little man or little
group called All for One did them for the pop song.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Well, it was it was interesting because I had put
out I Swear and you know, and it really took
off the charts. I mean, it just, uh, you know,
took off big time. You know. I f all love
the way let me. It was gonna be my big
love song hit. And then I guess maybe about a
month after it was out, the label executive Rick Blackburn
called me in his office and you know, and I'm thinking, okay,
(13:15):
am I in trouble or what you know? And and
he said, look, he said, I just want to warn
you or let you know that there's an art you know,
there's some artists on Atlantic Records in New York getting
ready to come out with I Swear in the pop
and R and B. I said, oh really, I said,
well cool, And he said, we just wanted to make
sure that you know, you weren't going to be upset
(13:36):
about it. And I said, hey, that sounds great. Let
everybody here, every you know, every genre deserve you know,
I might have no problem with it. And so then
the next year on the next album, when I was
in the studio, uh, you know, doing the albums I
Can Love You Like That on it, Rick Blackburn had
a party at his house there in Franklin, Tennessee, just
south of Nashville. We were all there Atlantic, you know,
(13:59):
in the off of one were there and we were
talking songs and stories and they were in the studio
and I was like, yeah, I said, I said, I
got another song I just cut you guys might want
to listen to. I said, it's called I Can Love
It Like That in the leads there. Guy went, well,
we just cut that too, So so you know, the
publisher company got smart and like, Okay, we're going to
(14:20):
fix it to both artists at the same time, you know,
and hopefully they'll both cut it, which we did, you know,
And that's how all that worked out. It worked out
pretty well.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
And I love your attitude towards it to say, like, listen,
I love the song. It's a great song. I want
everyone to hear the song, no matter who's singing it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
You know. Well, yeah, you know, and you know, I
guess people like, well, you could have took that pomp
and you could have been you know, worldwide. Like I'm
not a pop singer. I don't want to be a
pop singer. I said. I'm a country singer. That's what
I grew up doing. And and I'm like, so I
really don't want to go, you know, try to cross
over and do all that stuff. I said, I'm perfectly
(14:56):
happy where I am. Let somebody else have something, you know.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I think it worked out for all parties involved, including
the fans, right.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Versions. Yeah, that's a big thing. Yeah, very good stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
We are super excited about your final show again in
Lexington rep Arena Friday, December twelfth. Tickets on sale.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Now, Yes, get up and you could win them. To
at tcrcuntry dot com slash contest man.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
We appreciate come out and enjoy the show, Come out
and see me and have some fun.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Absolutely looking forward to it. Thank you so much for
all the time you spent with us.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yes, it was a pleasure talking to you today.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Same here you as well. You all have a wonderful
day and stay cool. I'm going to go outside and
swait a little bit more. I've got believe it or not,
I still have tours to do, even you know, as
successful you know.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, you still have that honeydew leslie.
You better get to it.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Oh yeah, yeah, that'll keep coming long after I'm retired
from my singing. I believe that out no doubt. Hey, folks,
this is John Michael Montgomery and you're listening to my
friends Dave and Jent on tz R Country.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
That's perfect. Thank you so much, so much.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
We really proud enjoyed it all right, man, have a
good one. Thank you, Take care all right, Bye bye
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