Back When I Knew It All

iTunes Review

Montgomery Gentry's sixth album opens with a fevered preacher pounding the pulpit to set the stage for "Long Line Of Losers," where the protagonist admits that his mom was the town pariah for sleeping with the local evangelist. With its nod to 1970s outlaw country and Southern rock, it comes off sounding like a cross between Hank Williams Jr. and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Unpredictably, the title track starts with a 12 string Rickenbacker jangle that borrows heavily from The Byrds' folk rock take on Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man," before segueing into new traditional tinged country pop. The intro on "One In Every Crowd" also borrows — if not downright steals — from another older song, John Mellencamp's "Small Town." But the rest of the tune displays more originality as its anthemic lyrics champion the kind of hell-raising, party-igniting, redneck roughnecks that many mothers often warn their teenage kids from befriending. The similarly themed honky-tonker "I Pick My Parties" features guest vocals by Toby Keith, and the endearingly melodramatic ballad "God Knows Who I Am" boasts a cameo by Lillie Mae Rische of the band Jypsi.