Roll with Me

"Roll with Me"

Cover of Colt Ford remix.
Single by Montgomery Gentry
from the album Back When I Knew It All
Released August 5, 2008 (2008-08-05)[1]
Format CD single
Genre Country
Length 3:54
Label Columbia Nashville
Writer(s) Clint Daniels
Tommy Karlas
Producer Blake Chancey
Montgomery Gentry singles chronology
"Back When I Knew It All"
(2008)
"Roll with Me"
(2008)
"One in Every Crowd"
(2009)
Music video
"Roll with Me" at CMT.com

"Roll with Me" is the title of a song recorded by the American country music duo Montgomery Gentry. It is the second single from their 2008 album Back When I Knew It All. It has become their twentieth single to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and on the weeks of December 20—27, 2008 has become their fifth Number One song.

The song is part of the tracklist for Now That's What I Call Country Volume 2.

Contents

Content

The song is a mid-tempo ballad, featuring lead vocals from Troy Gentry[1] and background vocals from Five for Fighting.[2] In it, the narrator sings about taking lyrical inspiration from the world around him, and learning the life lessons about which he sings.[3] This sentiment is reflected in the lines "I'm thinking it's time to be livin' the rhyme / When I'm singing a song about nothing but right / And it'd sure be nice if you would roll with me."

According to Country Weekly, songwriter Tommy Karlas wrote the song after he could not sleep due to insomnia.[4] He got together with fellow songwriter Clint Daniels to finish it. Karlas added the second verse when he thought about a high school friend who had died.[4]

Montgomery Gentry released a rap remix with country-rapper Colt Ford as well.

Reception

Eddie Montgomery, the other half of the duo, said of the song: "It's got the groove factor; it's just unreal. I think it's the best performance I've ever heard from my brother over here. Emotionally, you can tell when he sings it, it's from the heart."[1]

Reviewing the song for Country Universe, critic Leeann Ward gave the song a C rating. She considered the lyrics cliché and nonsensical but called the melody "rather pleasant sounding".[5] Thom Jurek of Allmusic considered it "obligatory" and "spiritually minded".[6]

Music video

The music video, directed by Steven L. Weaver, features stop motion animation.[3] An interactive version of the video was also posted on the website Hear Something Country, presenting a 360-degree view of the video. The video features Glee actor Darren Criss.

Chart performance

For the week of December 20, 2008, the song became their second consecutive and fifth overall number one hit, where it remained on top for two weeks. It also has become their second Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 33.

Chart (2008) Peak
position
US Country Songs (Billboard)[7] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[8] 33
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[9] 66
Preceded by
"Chicken Fried"
by Zac Brown Band
Billboard Hot Country Songs
number-one single

December 20—December 27, 2008
Succeeded by
"Here"
by Rascal Flatts

References