Montgomery Gentry Takes On The New York Times

07/12/2000 1:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(7/12/00, 1 p.m. ET) - When Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry of Montgomery Gentry opened up The New York Times Arts & Leisure section in June, they were treated to a story by writer Neil Strauss that not only panned country music but also the duo themselves. In the article, Strauss called Montgomery Gentry "two hairy, beefy, mullet-topped good ole Kentucky boys who like to wear leather overcoats with black cowboy hats." He also said their album was "some strange attempt to package slick Nashville pop with bad-boy Southern rock," and, "I don't like it. . .It wasn't made for you or me. It was made for people who don't like us."

The duo was quick to respond, sending in a letter to the editor. It, along with their picture, ran in the July 9 edition of The New York Times.

"Anyone who knows us -- or has heard our first single, 'Hillbilly Shoes,' which is about knowing people rather than judging them -- knows that the last thing we do is define people we don't know by stereotype, appearance, or especially where they're from," the pair wrote. "Having grown up playing music in a lot of barrooms, we've seen a lot of life and we've learned that snap judgments based on those things are too easy and often wrong.

"For Neil Strauss to say that we don't like his kind shows him to be the very kind of person he says we are. We're about real life, hard work, having fun when it's all said and done and, most important, standing up for what you believe in, especially respecting others. Life's short. We don't preach. We don't judge. Nor do we like being judged on a bias by someone who's never hung out with us. We'd probably like Neil Strauss, if he were man enough to come out on the bus with us. And you know what? He might even have a good time." -- Jennifer Gerlock, Nashville

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