"Please tell all the people who are planning on attending our concert to go ahead and call in sick for the next day," said Eddie Montgomery, "because we've been known to lock the doors, close up the gates and just party all night long!"

Montgomery and Troy Gentry of country duo Montgomery Gentry and.;singer-songwriter Billy Currington bring their boundary-defying brand of entertainment to the Peoria Civic Center tonight.

Montgomery Gentry make no apologies for shaking up the country music scene with their rowdy onstage antics and blue-collar anthems of.;life, work, love, family and.;patriotism.

"The people that come to our concerts work hard at their jobs and often put in 70 or 80 hours a week," Montgomery said. "If they want to spend their hard-earned money to come out and see us, we want them to have fun and leave the concert saying, 'Man, I just had an absolute blast.' "

Since their.;1999 debut,.;the Kentucky duo have released such hits as "Hillbilly Shoes," "She Couldn't Change Me," "My Town," "Speed," "If You Ever Stop Loving Me," "Gone," "Something To Be Proud Of" and their current Top Ten single, "Lucky Man."

"We want to be true to ourselves and to our music," Montgomery said. "And we want to do music that's still played 20 years from now. That's important to us. We have to do it our way, though. Our saying is, 'There's a right way, a wrong way and the Montgomery Gentry way.' And the way we see it, no matter what, we're going to have fun with it, one way or another."

When it comes to country music, Billy Currington must be doing something right. Not only did he achieve a No. 1 hit with the title track from his latest album, "Doin' Somethin' Right," but his current single, "Good Directions," recently was a No. 1 Billboard song for three straight weeks.

"No. 1 songs don't come around that often," Currington said. "So when they come, you just gotta soak it up, enjoy it and be thankful."

"Doin' Somethin' Right" includes a duet with Michael McDonald, "She's Got a Way With Me."

"Michael McDonald is a super talent," Currington said. "It was a great learning experience and the beginning of a new friendship. He's definitely my favorite singer in the world."

Although famous for the hit singles "Walk A Little Straighter," "I Got A Feelin' " and the Shania Twain duet, "Party For Two," the bachelor also became well known for another reason when Playgirl magazine featured a shirtless Currington on its March 2005 cover and People magazine stated he was one of the "Hottest 25 Country Stars of 2006."

"That image all came about during a photo shoot," says Currington, who worked as a personal trainer before releasing his self-titled debut album in 2003. "The photographer noticed I worked out and asked me to take my shirt off - just in case we needed some future fitness shots. That's what led to magazine and video shoots always requesting me to have my shirt off.

"It's fine, but my main concern is making sure that people see and hear the music more than the skin."

Currington, 32,.;has received rave reviews for his new single, "Tangled Up." It is the first track from his yet untitled third album, scheduled for a fall release.

"I think this third album will change things in the way people say my name and picture my music," Currington says. "It has rock, soulful blues and some songs.;I've been wanting to cut for a long time. It's been a fun album to record."

WHO: Montgomery Gentry and Billy Currington.

WHERE: Peoria Civic Center.

WHEN: 8 p.m. today.

TICKETS: $23-$33 at TicketMaster outlets or (309) 673-3200.

ON THE WEB:

www.montgomerygentry.com; www.billycurrington.com; www.peoriaciviccenter.com.

Tamela Meredith Partridge can be reached at tmp@mtco.com.