Country singer Melba Montgomery, known for her duets, dies at age 86

Melba Montgomery, one of the most unique country singers of her generation and a striking and witty duet partner with George Jones, Gene Pitney and Charlie Rubin, died Wednesday in Nashville. She was 86 years old.

His daughter, Jackie Chancey, said the cause of death at the memory care facility was complications from dementia.

Ms. Montgomery was known to fans and others as the “female George Jones” for her unreconstructed, earthy phrasing and talent for bending notes in the traditions of her native Appalachia. Her thrilling high harmonies lend an emotional twist to duets such as the Top 10 country hit “We Must Have Been Out of Our Mind,” which she recorded with Mr. Jones in 1963. .

Both as a solo artist and as a duet partner, Ms. Montgomery had 30 singles on the country charts from 1963 to 1986. Her recording of Harlan Howard's moving ode to motherhood, “No Charge,” rose to No. 1 in 1974. It entered the pop top 40.

Several of Ms. Montgomery's other solo works have reached the top 40 domestically, most notably her 1977 arrangement of Merrilee Rush's 1968 Top 10 pop hit “Angel of the・Morning” is noticeable. But her most consistent and lasting success was with the cheating song “We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds,” set to a waltz-time rhythm that she herself wrote and performed with others. Brought to you by the song.

“I thought I loved someone else, not you/How stupid I thought the same thing,” Montgomery and Jones sing as Dobro guitars blare in the background. , they sang while exchanging lines while being considerate of each other.

This recording was Montgomery's first to be sold to a national audience.

“I was as nervous as a cat!” she was quoted as saying in Bob Allen's George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend (1984). “Not only was it my first major session, but it was also with George Jones!

“George had been barking outside the night before and no one even knew where he was until an hour before the session,” she continued. “When he finally showed up, he was in a great mood and everything was going really well.”

Ms. Montgomery and Ms. Jones had an affinity for comics depicting marital problems. “Let's Invite Them Over,” performed in harmonious harmony, is sung from the perspective of a couple who are no longer in love but have fallen in love with each other's best friend.

Singer-songwriter John Prine included “Let's Invite Them Over” and “We Must Have Been” in his 1999 duet collection In Spite of Ourselfs with various female country singers. Contains both versions of “Out of Our Mind.'' Ms. Montgomery served as Ms. Prine's partner on “We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds.'' She also sang the female part on “Milwaukee Here I Come,” another duet associated with Mr. Jones (Mr. Jones originally recorded it in 1968 with Brenda Carter and later recorded it with Tammy Wynette). recorded).

Ms. Montgomery had a country hit with pop singer Gene Pitney in 1966, “Baby Ain't That Fine,'' and later released four Top 40 country duets with Ms. Rubin in the 1970s. Their first collaboration, “Something to Brag About,” reached the U.S. Top 20. The song later reached the U.S. Top 10 with a rollicking version by Mary Kay Place from the 70's nighttime soap opera “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” with Willie Nelson.

Although Ms. Montgomery never achieved the same acclaim as her contemporaries Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette, she had an equally commanding voice and was heard by famous country singers such as Patti Lovelace and Rhonda Vincent. Influenced bluegrass singers. Nevertheless, she always received high praise from Mr. Jones, who is widely regarded as the greatest country singer of all time.

Jones mentioned his ex-wife and duet partner Wynette in Allen's biography, explaining that “Melba suited my singing style better than Tammy.'' “I hate to use the word 'hardcore,' but that's what Melba is: a down-to-earth hardcore country singer.”

Melva Joyce Montgomery was born in Iron City, Tennessee, on October 14, 1938, one of nine children to Norman and Willie Annie Mae (Cyber) Montgomery. Her father was a sharecropper and later a knitting factory worker who played fiddle and gave voice lessons at the local Methodist church.

Growing up in Florence, Alabama, young Melba learned to sing harmony and play the banjo and guitar at home. She and her two brothers, Carl and Earl, known as Peanut, were also successful songwriters.

In 1958, when she was 20 years old, Ms. Montgomery and her brother competed in a talent contest sponsored by WSM, the radio station that broadcasts the Grand Ole Opry. One of the judges was singer Roy Acuff, who was so impressed by her powerful voice that he hired her to sing on his tour revue.

Four years later, she signed with United Artists Records and was introduced to Mr. Jones, with whom she would go on to release six Top 40 country hits.

When her hit songs stopped coming in the 1990s, Ms. Montgomery focused on songwriting. Collaborations with various other writers produced hits for George Strait and Ms. Loveless, among others.

She released her last album in over 10 years, Things That Keep You Going, in 2010. She retired from performing in 2015, a year after her husband of 46 years, Jack Solomon, passed away. He was a member of Mr. Jones' band.

In addition to her daughter Jackie and brother Earl, Ms. Montgomery is survived by three daughters: Tara Dennis Solomon, Diana Lynn Cirigliano, and Melissa Solomon Barrett. five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Looking back on her career, Ms. Montgomery has at times expressed concern about how much her decade as a duet singer has overshadowed her work as a solo artist.

Despite these doubts, Jones insisted Montgomery had little room for remorse. And indeed, the two claimed to have done more than anyone to establish the now prevalent male-female format in country music.

“I'm not saying Melba and I were the first male-female duets in country music, because we weren't,” Jones wrote in her 1996 autobiography, “I Lived to Tell It All,” which she co-wrote with Tom. ” stated in. Carter.

“And I'm not saying we were the best. But Melba said recently that she thinks we popularized the male and female format, and I agree with that.”