Melba Montgomery, one of the most distinctive country singers of her generation and an electrifying — and witty — duet partner for George Jones, Gene Pitney, and Charlie Louvin, died on Wednesday in Nashville. She was 86.
The cause of her death, at a memory care facility, was complications of dementia, said her daughter, Jackie Chancey.
Ms. Montgomery was known to her fans and others as “the female George Jones” for her unreconstructedly down-home phrasing and her gift for bending notes in the tradition of her native Appalachia. Her thrilling high harmonies put an emotional charge into duets like “We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds,” a Top 10 country hit she recorded with Mr. Jones in 1963.
As both a solo artist and a duet partner, Ms. Montgomery placed 30 singles on the country chart from 1963 to 1986. Her recording of “No Charge,” a touching ode to motherhood written by Harlan Howard, rose to No. 1 in 1974 and crossed over to the pop Top 40.
A handful of Ms. Montgomery’s other solo releases reached the country Top 40, notably “Angel of the Morning,” her 1977 rendition of Merilee Rush’s 1968 Top 10 pop hit. Her most consistent and enduring success, though, came with the songs she performed with others, beginning with “We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds,” a cheating-gone-wrong song set to waltz-time rhythms that she wrote herself.
Ms. Montgomery had a country hit, “Baby Ain’t That Fine,” with the pop singer Gene Pitney in 1966 before releasing four Top 40 country duets with Mr. Louvin in the 1970s.
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