You Do Your Thing

Montgomery Gentry’s fourth album touches on a little of everything the duo had done to that point. There’s a tribute to the older generation (“Something to Be Proud Of”), a great, unrepentant drinking song (“I Got Drunk”), and a handful of the tough, catchy singles that have become the duo’s specialty (“If You Ever Stop Loving Me,” “If It’s the Last Thing I Do,” “Gone”). While the group often gets pigeonholed as a couple of plain-spoken rednecks, You Do Your Thing contains several songs that display a sensitivity and sincerity that's rare in country music. The men portrayed in “Talking to My Angel” and “She Loved Me” are deeply flawed and full of self-doubt, but rather than perpetuate the myth of the lone cowboy, the characters in these songs are allowed to grow up, get wiser and find true love. Finally, “I Ain’t Got It All That Bad” and “It’s All Good” are all about finding contentment by accepting the world as it is. In an industry where everything needs to be bigger, it’s refreshing to hear: “The county's taking half my yard / It don't matter too much anyway / In the scheme of things I still get more than I should / It’s all good.”