Personnel includes: John Michael Montgomery (vocals); Bobby All, Billy Joe Walker Jr., Darrel Scott, Michael Spriggs (acoustic guitar); Brent Rowan, Bobby Terry, Mason Greenberg, Kenny Greenberg, John McFee, Dan Huff, Larry Byrom (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (pedal steel guitar); Tommy Spurlock (steel guitar); Rob Hajacos (fiddle); Terry McMillan (harmonica, percussion); Kirk "Jellyroll" Johnson (harmonica); Reese Wynans (piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Steve Nathan, Gordon Mote (keyboards); Willie Weeks, Glen Worf, Mike Brignardello (bass); Lonnie Wilson, Stephen Brewster, Eddie Bayers (drums); Chip Davis, John Wesley Ryles, Michael Jones, Curtis Young, Harry Stinsos, Dennis Wilson (background vocals).

Producers: Doug Johnson, Scott Hendricks, Csaba Petocz, Garth Flindis, Buddy Cannon.

Compilation producers: James Austin, Paige Levy.

Recorded between 1992 & 2002. Includes liner notes by Robert K. Oermann.

Though he has always essentially been a new traditionalist country singer in the vein of Aaron Tippin and George Strait, John Michael Montgomery found his greatest success with smooth, romantic ballads that recall the work of Glenn Frey as much as that of Merle Haggard. THE VERY BEST OF JOHN MICHAEL MONTGOMERY lives up to its title by including most of the singer's finest and highest-charting singles in both styles, in the process collecting a body of work that virtually defines the "new country" phenomenon. Montgomery has the kind of soothing pipes and perfect phrasing that endear him even to ardent country-haters, and his material has the kind of straight-for-the-gut forthrightness that is sure to attract anyone tired of the irony-drenched hipper-than-thou-isms of contemporary pop. In addition to the hits, the package includes two newly recorded tracks, which easily measure up to the rest of the material here with their characteristic mix of rootsy instrumentation and wonderfully tear-jerking melodrama.