What do you know? Coming off of their invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry, Montgomery Gentry release their most country-sounding single in some time. The sound is a nice blend of Alabama, Hank Jr., and 70’s folk-rock, with a chorus ready-made for barroom singalongs and a colorful set of dobro fills.
It’s a credit to the songwriting that it manages to breathe life into a fairly tired theme. This whole “I’m proud of my broken family, gosh darn it” shtick has been done a good deal in recent years, and it’s been done well, with tracks like LeAnn Rimes’ “Family” and Eric Church’s “Sinners Like Me” providing some of the most memorable moments in those artists’ catalogs.
As with those examples, what elevates Montgomery Gentry’s take on the idea is its candor. Rather than try to falsely glamorize the relatives’ imperfections, as so many would-be Redneck Anthems would do, this song just throws them all out on the table, acknowledging them as they really are – not necessarily desirable, yet inescapable. Granted, the family does sound a little bit sensationalized, but the details are at least interesting enough to warrant a momentary suspension of disbelief.
I think a lot of people – particularly in the South – can relate to the social stigma of having so-called “bad stock” in their family, and I suspect they’ll really latch onto the humorous, “so what?” style of self-acceptance “Long Line of Losers” extols. I have to say that I’d like it a little more if the narrator gave a concrete example of what makes him such a loser – no fair spilling all his family’s beans and none of his own – but all in all, this is a good example of the Montgomery Gentry formula done right.
Written by Kevin Fowler & Kim Tribble
Grade: B+
Listen: Long Line of Losers
Buy:
This is my favorite song off the album. It kind of reminds me of “Marry Christmas From the Family” (At least thier rendition) and it’s just fun. I think there was another artist who also did this song (And there was some bad comments on Itunes because of it)but whoever did it, it’s still a great song.
I like Montgomery Gentry, and I’ve been a fan of them for several years. This song is just another good song in their catalog.
This is a good cover of a very good Kevin Fowler song. Too bad the machine would not play the original. Oh well, who needs radio when one has the internet.
This SHOULD have been a hit for Kevin Fowler, too bad it has to be M&G instead, it’s just Okay for me.
I agree with music man. Kevin Fowler has been playin this song at his shows for sometime now, which by the way are awesome!
But yea, too bad that the mainstreem music industry didn’t leave it to Fowler.
Fowler’s version kicks this corporate focus grouped version’s butt.
I really enjoye MG’s music they are very consistant with the hits, they have a winning formula. Fowler may play this amazingly but MG will take it to the level that it would never get with Fowler.
A lot of good song would go unnoticed if they were not out with “corporate forcus grouped version’s”.
While this song doesn’t really do much for me, I think Eddie pulls this off much better than Troy would have. Troy may have the technically better voice, but Eddie’s is more interesting.
MG can go to hell. Let Fowler do his work. Country music hates you, Kenny, Keith (that means you Toby and Urban), and anybody else who thinks they know what country music is. Stop trying to appeal the the little suburban kids looking for music. They don’t know nothin bout country and neither do you. Let Nashville burn. Y’all have absolutely killed anything George (both of em), Alan, Conway, Waylon, Willie, Dwight, or anybody like that has tried to preserve. You are an abomination.
LOL at the Fowlerheads. As if his last album didn’t include quite a few obvious shots at commercial country success (“Best Mistake I Ever Made” anybody?). I like both versions of this song and MG’s isn’t all that much slicker than Kevin’s, honestly. I don’t care for MG much, especially the mike stand twirling bozo, but this song’s pretty solid. I agree what a lot of you obvious Texans have said, I’m just playing devil’s advocate.
Both versions are good, but I personally like MG’s better. Also, the pissed off Fowler fans are unintentionally hilarious, which distracts from the points they’re trying to make.