Montgomery Gentry photo courtesy of Sony BMG Nashville.
Aug. 13, 2008 — Montgomery Gentry’s "Back When I Knew It All" is a song that celebrates the lessons that come with experience, a topic that’s best understood as an adult looking back on the folly of youth. The song’s achievement as a No. 1 hit was celebrated Tuesday in Nashville by the performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI, with the duo and the song’s three writers — Gary Hannan, Phil O’Donnell and Trent Willmon — all receiving plaques and citations.
The song itself was inspired when Gary, who served in an earlier era with the Special Forces in South Africa, hung a picture of himelf in his military duds on the wall.
"I looked at myself lookin’ back down at myself," Gary noted, "and I had a cocky grin on my face in the picture, and I said, ‘Man, you’ve learned a lot since back when you knew it all.’ And I said, ‘That’s really smart, you ignoramus.’ I called up Philbilly and said, ‘What do you think of this as an idea?’ He said, ‘I love it. Let’s get on it.’"
The two pulled in Trent for what turned out to be four full days of writing the song before it was finished. A day after its completion, Eddie Montgomery heard a worktape and immediately asked if Montgomery Gentry could have it for their album Some People Change. They ultimately decided to hold off on recording it until the next CD, and the writers hung with them for the full two years, keeping their fingers crossed that Eddie and Troy Gentry would follow through on what turned out to be a winning title for everyone involved.
Nine years after they first made a national impact, Montgomery Gentry believe "Back When I Knew It All" signifies that they still have plenty of career ahead of them.
"I think we’re just gettin’ started, baby," Eddie said. "Look out. They just turned it loose."
Among those attending the BMI party were Eddie’s brother, fellow country star John Michael Montgomery; Ira Dean, the former bass player for Trick Pony; and songwriter Dennis Morgan, responsible for such classics as "Smoky Mountain Rain" and "I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool."
Also attending was Gary’s father, Jim Hannan, who gave the ceremony a touching generational twist. Jim was undergoing cancer treatments the entire time "Back When I Knew It All" was climbing the charts. He underwent his final chemotherapy treatment last Wednesday, and having his dad on hand held obvious significance for Gary.
"For everybody," the songwriter said, "that allowed me to be on this stage with my father, thanks."
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