A little more than two weeks after Troy Gentry's tragic death, bandmate Eddie Montgomery has offered his thoughts on the loss. The Montgomery Gentry singer shared a note in an email release for the duo's song "Better Me."
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That new tune closed Gentry's Sept. 14 memorial service. Though the band usually puts out rowdy anthems for singles, "Better Me" is a somber, yet optimistic ballad. In many ways, it feels like the perfect send-off for the 50-year-old Gentry.
"Our world was turned upside down in an instant," Montgomery says. "And nothing could have prepared us for this."
Eddie Montgomery says the band really believed in their upcoming record. "Over the past few months me and T-Roy have been working on what I think is the best record of our career," he says. "In the last few weeks we had been talking about what our first single would be. Then on September 8, none of that mattered."
Eddie Montgomery and the rest of the team chose to debut "Better Me" for a reason. "'Better Me' is a song we all loved, and Troy sings his ass off on it," Montgomery says. "It speaks volumes about his life and who he had become and everybody he touched and how much he loved his family. I am so proud of this song and also to call him my friend, my family, my brother for 30 years."
Montgomery appeared notably austere at Gentry's memorial service. He didn't speak, but he did serve as a pallbearer. The Montgomery Gentry social media accounts also stayed fairly quiet, outside of confirming Gentry's death. In some ways, perhaps putting Gentry's death into words made it all the more real.
Eddie Montgomery is also staying mum on his future as an artist. The band's album is complete, so it could see the light of day. Average Joes Entertainment originally planned on releasing the record in 2018.
READ MORE: How Montgomery Gentry's Authentic Country Sound Made a Lasting Impact
Montgomery and Troy Gentry met and formed a band decades ago. After they both tried solo careers, they reformed in their late 20s as Montgomery Gentry. In 1999, the duo took the country world by storm. They released a steady string of fan-pleasing albums for the next 17 years.
