by Julian Spivey

It was like I’d taken a time machine back to the mid-90s on Wednesday night (August 28) and landed at the Of Ranch at the National Chuckwagon Racing Championships in Clinton, Ark. where a John Michael Montgomery concert had broken out.
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The Kentuckian who had a string of huge country music hits in the ‘90s appeared at the ranch, kicking off a week full of shows that will also feature Jason Boland and the Stragglers, Little Texas and Riders in the Sky, and put on quite the show.

Montgomery may not have as many big hits as other acts from his era, but I remember his music fondly. My introduction to country music came circa-1995 when my family moved to Arkansas from Florida and the biggest hit that year was Montgomery’s “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident),” which the radio played over and over again and made the song hard to forget. Montgomery instantly became one of my favorites at the time.

He kicked off his set Wednesday night with a couple of honky-tonkers “Cowboy Love” and “Beer and Bones” to get the crowd into the swing of things, though I must say the crowd though packed never really seemed to get too rambunctious, likely due to the older age of many in attendance, no matter how often Montgomery tried to get them into the act.

Montgomery followed with his first single and hit, “Life’s a Dance,” which became his first top five when it hit the radio in 1992. Things wouldn’t slow down from there for Montgomery throughout the remainder of the ‘90s and he performed these greatest hits with gusto for the Clinton crowd.

One of the early highlights from the show was when Montgomery performed a trio of love ballads – all number ones – “I Love the Way You Love Me,” “I Can Love You Like That” and “I Swear,” all among his biggest career hits with “I Love the Way You Love Me” and “I Swear” taking home the Association of Country Music Awards Song of the Year honor in back-to-back years in 1993 and 1994.

Montgomery continued on with performances of “Rope the Moon” and a deep cut “Friday at Five” both from his 1993 sophomore album “Kickin’ It Up.” The performance of “Rope the Moon” allowed Montgomery to show off some nice guitar picking skills that I previously was unaware of. He also finally got the crowd moving a little bit with his catchy 1994 number one hit “Be My Baby Tonight.” 

Montgomery’s best performance of the night came on the emotionally patriotic tune “Letters from Home,” his last big hit from 2004, which is my personal favorite of his (probably leading to me believing it to be his best of the night). Montgomery dedicated the song to America’s troops and veterans everywhere, both before and after the performance that surely left few eyes in the crowd dry.

Montgomery’s last two performances of his set were his last top 40 hit and last single “Forever,” from his 2008 album “Time Flies.” The song can be described as a “power ballad,” but don’t let that often corny-sounding tag throw you; it’s actually a pretty cool song. Montgomery then gave the crowd what most of them had come out to the show looking for … “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident).”

And, there I was with my girlfriend, Aprille, singing a song at the top of my lungs that I must have sung a few hundred times as an eight-year old back in ’95. It was very nostalgic. It was also nice to share something from our past (my girlfriend and I) that we loved long before we’d ever met.  It was one of those great concert moments.

Following his set Montgomery came back onto the stage for a one-song encore that consisted of a cover of Bob Seger’s finest song “Turn the Page,” which Montgomery said he’d been singing for over 30 years, long before he ever realized he’d become a successful recording artist. Montgomery put all of his heart and soul into the performance that sent everybody in attendance home with a smile on their face.