Gary's Bio

Gary Gentry was born and raised in Athens, Tennessee. After serving his country in the Navy during the Viet Nam War he decided to take his songwriting talents and love of country music to Nashville, Tennessee and pursue his dreams. Settling in Nashville, Gary's writing talents soon brought him to the attention of Merle Kilgore, with whom he inked his first songwriting/publishing deal. A short time later he moved on to write for Carmol Taylor and Norro Wilson's publishing company: Taylor-Wilson, where he scored his first hit with Johnny Paycheck's recording of his song: "Drinkin' And Drivin' ". The next hit was "1959" recorded by John Anderson. It was during this time that Gary signed on with Al Gallico and Billy Sherrill at Algee Music.Then came "Lady In The Blue Mercedes" recorded by Johnny Duncan. Gary, being a fine singer himself, first recorded on the independent record label: Compass Records. While steadily building a reputation as a hit songwriter, his then manager: Sy Rosenberg, landed him a recording deal with Jimmy Bowen on Electra Curb Records. Two singles were released: "S.O.B. (Same Old Boy)" and "I Sold All Of Tom T.'s Songs Last Night". Both landing on Billboard's top fifty charts and providing Gary the opportunity to perform on many of the country music shows being produced in Nashville at the time. Gary's singing abilities later came to the attention of producer Norro Wilson. Norro recorded him on a new song that Gary had penned titled" "The Ride". Unfortunately, Norro was not able to persuade RCA to sign a new artist at that time. But, as the old saying goes "the cream will rise to the top". Gary performed "The Ride" on the syndicated music show "That Nashville Music" where a very strange thing happened. While filming the show, when Gary reached the part of the song where he reveals that Hank Williams (the whole world called me Hank), is the mystery driver of the antique Cadillac - the lights in the Grand Ole Opry House (where the show was being filmed) & for the Opryland complex went out! This having never happened before caused quite a stir and made the news in several newspapers and magazines nationwide. Legendary music producer Billy Sherrill upon becoming aware of the song and realizing it's potential, decided to record "The Ride" with David Allen Coe singing. "The Ride" then quickly climb to the top of the charts! The hit songs continued to flow from Gary's mind and pen onto recordings produced by Billy Sherrill. Songs such as: "Chicken In Black" - Johnny Cash, "We Didn't See A Thing" - Ray Charles & George Jones, "Who Cares" - Ray Charles & Janie Frickie, "The Very Best Of Me" & "The One I Loved Back Then (The Corvette Song) - George Jones, and several others. (We would like to note here that Tim McGraw included his version of "The Ride" on his "A Real Good Man" video & also included it in his recent CMT special). As the eighties turned into the nineties the landscape in the country music industry began changing from the "songs that said something", to a more youth oriented format. On the advice and with the encouragement of mentor/producer, Billy Sherrill, Gary has kept writing. While steadily perfecting and advancing his songwriting craft, he has also felt compelled to take his unique approach to telling stories to a new level. A level that would allow him much more than the normal three minute average allowed on records. This new level is short stories & books. Through a Writers Digest course, studying under and being critiqued by novelist: Paul Bagdon, Gary became an even more impressive writer in not only songs, but also in both short stories and books. A racially contriversial song penned by Gary titled: "Freedom (The Tribute To The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)" has recently been reviewed and praised by Pulitzer Prize winning author of "Bearing The Cross", David J. Garrow. Entertaiment Weekly's contributing writer: Stephen King in referring to his movie "Shawshank Redemption" starring Tim Robins & Morgan Freeman stated that he has had many songs written about his novels & movies, but Gary has written the greatest song ever in a song titled: "The Poster". When Gary was recently invited to perform on a writers night at the Bluebird cafe, he was amazed at the interest his songs drew from the younger songwriting audience in attendance. He has since been flooded with invitations for him to write with these younger writers, which he is enjoying and doing.

Gary Gentry is a firm believer that good writing, whether it be songs, short stories, or books is a craft that one must work on daily and good writing never goes out of style.