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As half of the headlining act for the Country in the Rockies music festival, Nashville mainstay Eddie Montgomery joins a roster that in the past has included Willie Nelson and Brad Paisley.

Along with Troy Gentry, Montgomery has spent most of the past decade performing as Montgomery Gentry and reviving a rowdy country rock tradition (think Lynyrd Skynyrd or Charlie Daniels).

Tonight, the duo will play to a packed-in crowd at the Steamboat Music Festival Tent. Montgomery talked to 4 Points about playing the festival, keeping his shows fresh and putting Southern soul back into country music.

4 Points: What do you think about being the headlining band for the Country in the Rockies festival?

Eddie Montgomery: We've always heard it's a great festival, with all the causes and stuff. They asked us to do it, and this is the first time we hadn't already started our tour.

We hadn't been skiing or anything else before either. So we'll see how (skiing) works out - it'll probably be more stumbling than anything.

4 Points: What can people who haven't seen you perform before expect from this concert?

EM: When we're at the stage, anything can happen - and it usually does.

And for the people watching us, we don't call 'em fans, we call 'em friends.

Our shows, there ain't no two the same. We just like to have a lot of fun.

4 Points: What else does Montgomery Gentry have going on right now?

EM: We're in the studio right now working on a new album. We've got some killer writers, and me and Troy have been doing some writing. We're using a studio in Memphis, Tenn., where Bob Dylan recorded. So did Led Zeppelin and B.B. King.

4 Points: Why Memphis?

EM: We just had to step out of Nashville and record a little bit. We wanted to just get the vibe and stuff of Memphis. Memphis is a town that's got a lot of soul in it.