John Michael Montgomery photo courtesy of Stringtown Records.
June 26, 2008 — John Michael Montgomery completed a 28-day stay in rehab recently and is touring again, presumably with the anxiety attacks and sleep disorder that had previously dogged him now in the past.
According to Billboard, John Michael stayed four weeks at Cumberland Heights, a Nashville facility which has also worked with Johnny Cash and Trace Adkins. John Michael blamed his issues on 25 years of "roadin’ and drinkin’," but also indicated his health was exacerbated by severe injuries. He broke a leg slipping on ice in December 2000 and required a cast for the following eight months.
"I guess the last five years, having hip surgeries, leg surgeries, and you get a lot of the stress of touring, it just all added up," he told The Flint Journal. "I just felt lost. My brain wanted to go, but my body said no. It's like you wake up one day, and life slaps you in the face and says, 'You need to figure out where you're going here.' [Rehab] was a good break for me, a time to regroup."
Shortly before he went to Cumberland Heights, John Michael announced the formation of his own label, Stringtown Records. His first self-released project, Time Flies, is due Sept. 9.