Mix a little Kentucky bourbon with some rough-edged cut-to-the-bone hardcore honkytonk and you'll likely come up with something that sounds like Montgomery Gentry. Swill it around in the glass a little more and you'll get Tattoos & Scars, the debut release from the latest duo to hit Nashville.
   Montgomery Gentry is Eddie Montgomery (brother of famed country heart-throb John Michael) and fellow Kentuckian Troy Gentry. Honing thier skills and talents in the roadhouses in and around Lexington, KY, the duo is representative of the cycle country music has gone through in the last twenty years. Sounding like an amalgamation of Alabama, Charlie Daniels Band, and Hank Williams, Jr., Montgomery Gentry has brought good-time, rockin' honky tonk country music full circle and ready to head into the next era.
   Of particular note on this album is the hard-driving first cut, "Hillbilly Shoes," a fast paced toe-tapper that is tempered by the slower anthem-like "Trying To Survive."
   The Max D. and Max T. Barnes tune "I've Loved A Lot More Than I've Hurt" will conjure up images of Alabama. But it is the last two cuts on the album that should garner the greatest acclaim. The Charlie Daniels penned "All Night Long" with guesting vocals by Charlie himself is an exhilerating experience that is preceded by the title cut, a wonderful story song written by Tony Lane.
   Tattoos & Scars is a fine debut effort that captures the sound of today's country music night spots with it's outlaw driven attitude.

-Charlton Wiggins