Gary Allan – Living Hard

“Living Hard” the most recent release from Gary Allan has a different sound from his last studio CD “Tough All Over”. This one seems to be a bit brighter, not focusing so much on the troubles that he was working thru on his last original release. While “Tough All Over” was written and recorded during the dark days after Gary lost his wife to suicide. “Living Hard” comes across as a CD that shows Gary is working thru the emotions and has his good days and bad days since he lost her, he is moving on with with his life as he should.

Gary isn’t an artist that can be classified as a pop-country, southern rock or traditional country, he blends them altogether. You can feel the emotions when he sings. I don’t know why he doesn’t get as much recognition as some of the other artists out today.

Like It’s a Bad Thing has a great tempo and I love the line “I don’t know about you, but I was put here to live and love, so what if I don’t do it like everyone else does.” It speaks to everyone in every walk of life, you get hurt and you get scars but you don’t give up. I would love to see this released as a single.

Learn How to Bend is one of the songs that I take as he is still working thru the emotional scars that losing someone can cause especially when trying to start a new relationship.

As Long As You’re Looking Back tells the listener to move forward, don’t dwell on the past. If you can’t quit reliving the past, you don’t have much of a future, getting your heart broke is not the end of the world, there is more out there.

Wrecking Ball reminds me of a Lynyrd Skynyrd song, it has the southern rock feel, great song to dance to, try to stay in your seat and not tap your foot to the beat. Talks about a woman that just catches his eye and that is it, he is putty in her hands, he knows she isn’t good for him, but just can’t help himself.

Yesterday’s Rain is a beautiful ballad that talks about memories and how “it is better to have love and lost than not at all”. This would make a good single to in this listeners opinion. It’s a song that will bring back bittersweet memories for anyone that hears it.

Track Listing:
Watching Airplanes
We Touched the Sun
She’s So California
Like It’s a Bad Thing
Learning How to Bend
As Long As You’re Looking Back
Wrecking Ball
Yesterday’s Rain
Trying to Matter
Half of My Mistakes
Living Hard

Overall, I really enjoy listening to this CD, there are some great songs on here, not a lot of filler material at all. A must have for any Gary Allan fan.

If you would like to download the CD from iTunes, here is the link.