Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 15, 1995 TAG: 9505170018
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Probably not. It bombed. But it made a point about the lack of purity in country music that, like the movie itself, nobody apparently paid any attention to.
In the movie, country singer George Strait plays a country singer whose music and concert act have gotten so slick that it's difficult to tell if it's country anymore. This bothers the pure country-at-heart Strait.
Now, switch scenes to the opening of John Michael Montgomery's concert Sunday night at the Salem Civic Center.
Sporting a gold necklace and leather jacket to go with his cowboy hat and boots, Montgomery arrived on stage from inside a rushing plume of smoke and lights as his guitar was lowered to him on wires from the rafters.
The smoke and mirrors never stopped after that. There were ramps and rock-show lights and loud screeching guitars, a saxophone player and a steel guitar that rarely was noticed.
Get the picture?
The slim crowd of 3,434, of course, seemed unconcerned, going wild for the dimpled singer, although even his most devoted fans appeared somewhat shell-shocked when he launched into a full-tilt rock cover of the Marshall Tucker Band's ``Can't You See.''
As covers go, it was loud and dreadful and emphasized the overall lack of country in Montgomery's 90-minute show. He was much better on the few occasions he stuck closer to pure country form, on the twangy ``Beer and Bones'' or ``Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident).''
He also had a couple of standout ballads, particularly his monster hit ``I Swear,'' but again, they shared more of an alliance with Michael Bolton than with Merle Haggard. Montgomery's nondescript voice didn't help matters either.
This is not to say country has to be all hay bales and fiddles. Nowadays, country can include almost anything, but it still has to offer something more, well, pure than what Montgomery presented.
Opening Sunday night was newcomer Ken Mellons, who logged an hour-long set that also typified today's country.
He played a combination of driving honky-tonk, with catchy titles like ``Call Me Ever Ready'' and ``Jukebox Junkie,'' and country-pop power ballads with syrupy names like ``I Can Bring Her Back'' and ``The Pleasure's All Mine.'' He included a cover song as well, in this case, Keith Whitley's ``When You Say Nothing At All.''
He whooped it up. ``We're gonna strap it on you like a World War II gas mask, I guarantee it! You better put your seat belts on.''
He tugged at the heart strings by bringing a little girl on stage to help him sing a song.
Finally, he looked good, he thanked God and collected flowers and blew kisses and wiggled his hips. In the end, Mellons proved predictable, but he had a winning way.
Expect his star to rise.
by CNB