Troy Gentry loves this time of year.
"We get to go out on weekends and spend the week at home with our families," the father of two said from a tour stop in Maryland.
He looked out from the tour bus at the early autumn day as it unfolded that midmorning in late September. "It's so beautiful," he said, describing the clouds disappearing to make way for sunshine and what promised to be an 80-degree day.
During the fall, Gentry and his partner, Eddie Montgomery, get to slow down to half speed after a summer spent almost nonstop on the road. They hit the county and state fair circuits, including Arizona's on Friday, and think about their next recording.
Gentry said the duo will go back in the studio this fall to begin work on a new album. But instead of recording in Nashville, Montgomery Gentry is heading to Memphis to shake things up.
"The good thing about recording at home is you can put your head on your own pillow at night," Gentry explained. "The bad thing is that Eddie and I like to record at night and people want to hurry home and put their heads on their own pillows."
They are hoping to mix things up a bit in Memphis, maybe add a bit of blues. Gentry said they also want to recapture some of the honky-tonk rebellion from the duo's 2000 platinum debut, "Tattoos & Scars."
That calling card set a tone for the pair as hard-driving and hard-drinking hellraisers and endeared them to country-music fans hungry for something that went against Nashville's ever-conservative grain. Their reputation was mostly exaggerated, although they were known to party after a concert with fans. (At Country Thunder a few years ago, Gentry wandered back to the campsites and drank beers with fans until the wee hours, signing autographs and shaking hands.)
Since that debut, Montgomery Gentry has settled into a comfortable position in country music. The pair gloated in 2000 when they unseated Brooks & Dunn for best duo at the Country Music Association Awards show, and Montgomery Gentry has been nominated every year since including this year. CMAs will be presented Nov. 7. Their albums have sold gold and platinum, and they have scored several songs in Billboard's Top 5.
Gentry said he's happy with the success, so far.
"I think we'll be around another five, 10 years," he said.
The pair will head to Memphis in the next few weeks to record the new album's first half. In January, it's off to Miami to record the second half. No, Gentry quickly noted, you won't hear the pair falling under Florida's tropical spell and pulling a Jimmy Buffett.
"Jimmy does enough of that for everyone; we don't need to add to it," he said.
So why Miami?
"We just want to get out of Nashville in January because it's so darned cold."
Montgomery Gentry
• When: 7 p.m. Friday.
• Where: Arizona State Fairgrounds, 1826 W. McDowell Road, Phoenix.
• Tickets: Free with fair admission; $20 for reserved seat.
Other State Fair concerts
• Howie Mandel, 7 p.m. Saturday; $15 reserved seats.
• Alice Cooper, 7 p.m. Wednesday; $20 reserved.
• Sugarland and Little Big Town, 7 p.m. Thursday; $25 reserved.
• Old School Jam, 8 p.m. Nov. 2; $15 reserved.
• Steve Miller Band, 7 p.m. Nov. 3; $20 reserved.
