Right For Radio John Michael Montgomery Album Has The Stuff For Country Radio Success

John Michael Montgomery has taken a musical departure with his new album, “What I Do the Best,” and it has paid off with an immediate embrace by country radio.

Normally conservative KSCS Dallas was one of the stations to jump on the lead single, “Ain’t Got Nothin’ On Us,” which leans toward Texas swing.

KSCS music director Linda O’Brian says, “It’s country, he’s a star, and it’s got tempo. The song does the job.”

The fact that the album, due Tuesday on Atlantic, is tinged with far more traditional country than his previous three efforts is a source of pride to Montgomery, who acknowledges that it was also a bit of a risk.

“I decided to do some different things in staying away from the slickness that we’ve had on previous albums. It worked before, but you don’t want the same kind of music and the same musicians every time. Using a different producer, we came in at a different angle this time.”

Montgomery took a year off from touring to rethink his direction. During that time, he and his wife had their first child, and he says that the sabbatical was good for his music as well as his personal life.

“The real problem,” he says, “is in trying to stay creative while you tour. To be creative while you’re touring nonstop is impossible. You can’t write.”

Montgomery says the time off inspired him to write his first song in six years. “I Miss You a Little,” co-written with Mike Anthony and Richard Fagan, is a tribute to Montgomery’s late father.

“I had really been wanting to write something in memory of him, and I worried whether or not I could do it,” he says. “I hadn’t written a song since ‘A Few Cents Short,’ which is also on the album. I wrote that in 1990.”

Montgomery says his hiatus gave him a new perspective on his career. “From now on,” he says, “this is the route I’m gonna take: take time off to do an album, whether it’s six months or a year, and then think about touring. A lot of times, money tends to manipulate things, because there’s a lot of money in this industry centering around touring.”

Montgomery, whose bookings and public relations are handled by his JMM Co., now feels in charge of his career.

“I felt that manipulation was happening in my career,” he says. “I didn’t like what I was seeing. I want to not worry about having to tour because I’m gonna miss out on all this money. Who cares? I want to sing my songs and enjoy it. The money’s gonna be here (today) and gone tomorrow. Twenty years from now, I want those songs to be something I’m proud of.”

In acknowledging that he was taking a chance in leaning toward traditional country, Montgomery says he may have been unconsciously making a statement.

“That was in the back of my mind,” he says. “We’ve been hearing a sameness. I was guilty of that. It’s not anyone’s fault; it’s just going with the flow. Everybody’s (griping) about radio playing it safe. Well, they’re just playing what Nashville is giving them. If you want them to play something different, take a hot artist and put out something different. Here, I wanted to set a tone, so that new artists coming in can say, ‘Oh, it’s OK to do that.”’