John Michael Montgomery - "Life's A Dance/Beer & Bones" - (Final Show) - Lexington, KY - Rupp Arena
Shot with a DJI OM 4SE Gimbal
December 12, 2025
The Danville -born, Nicholasville-raised, Lexington-schooled singer — a Grammy nominated, multiple platinum-selling presence on country radio for more than three decades — said having his tour bus doing somersaults on the interstate isn’t the reason he is giving up touring. The incident stands as but one chapter in an extensive career that has offered immeasurable fortunes. But it has also worn him down. This weekend, 33 years after “Life’s a Dance” introduced him to country audiences in a huge way, Montgomery is getting off the bus. His Friday concert will be his last official tour date.
“It’s just one of those things,” Montgomery said. “You wake up like any pro athlete would do and one day you look in the mirror and go, ‘Man, this is a young man’s game.’ “It’s bittersweet. It’s kind of surreal because, well, it’s been 33 years. I just turned 60 this year. And I listen to this 60-year-old body. I came to this realization about five years ago when COVID came in and shut down the whole music industry. That’s the first time I hadn’t been on a bus or toured or been traveling in almost 30 years. I just remember at the end of that year how good my body felt. Everything was rested — my voice, my body. I was like, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize how hard traveling was starting to be on me,’ so I cut shows back from 70 shows a year to about 30 to 25 shows a year. “Before COVID, I used to get out there and go up and down the road. You don’t realize, as you’re getting older, how much wear and tear you’re getting on you. That’s when I really started thinking about it. Then I had the bus wreck. I’ve just come to terms with it all over the last year. I’ve had a great, great, wonderful career and everything, but I was like ‘I think it’s time to hang up the ol’ boots, get off the road, quit touring and rest my body.’”
Of course, as any longstanding Central Kentucky fan of Montgomery will readily acknowledge, the singer had a full career in progress long before the rest of the country heard his music. Having cut his musical teeth in bands led by father Harold Montgomery, a young John Michael found himself playing five nights a week at the still-active-today Austin City Saloon in Woodhill Center. Backing him were brother Eddie Montgomery and singer Troy Gentry. Both would eventually find their own stardom and headline their own Rupp concerts as Montgomery Gentry (Eddie Montgomery will be also be part of Friday’s show along with John Michael’s son Walker Montgomery and son-in-law Travis Denning.) “Back at the Austin City Saloon, it was me, Eddie, Troy and a couple other guys all doing our thing five nights a week. Living it up as a house band in Lexington ... I mean, we thought that was the ultimate gig. Little did I know that a few years later, I would be on Atlantic Records. “All of that was actually the result of a lucky situation because the guys from Atlantic had come to town to see another singer. One of them said, ‘Well, we were here checking this other singer out and the waitress said, ‘You need to go down the road to this place called Austin City Saloon and listen to this guy John Michael Montgomery. So, thanks to her, whoever she was ... I mean, she got me the record deal. If I ever figure out who she was, I’ll give a big tip.”
$johnmichaelmontgomery
#iswear
#ropethemoon
#ilivethewayyouloveme
#rupparena
#walkermontgomery
#kickinitup
#soldier
#eddiemontgomery
#montgomerygentry
Информация по комментариям в разработке