Gary Allan It Would Be You CD

All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.

Gary Allan is a surfer from Southern California, but you'd never know it from listening to IT WOULD BE YOU. Allan's taken care to pack his sophomore release with nothing but straight-up country songs from some of the finest writers in Nashville. Heck, he's even cut a song Conway Twitty wrote back in 1963 ("She Loves Me, She Don't Love You.") The material ranges from uptempo honky tonkers ("I've Got A Quarter In My Pocket," "Don't Leave Her Lonely Too Long") to melodic ballads ( "I Ain't Runnin' Yet," "I'll Take Today.")

Allan, with his slightly gritty voice, handles the range of material just fine. But his best performance, ironically, is on the CD's hidden track. "No Judgment Day" comes several minutes after the last listed cut, and tells the chilling story of a single violent incident which tears a small town apart. It's possible Allan hid the song to avoid being labeled "politically incorrect," but it seems strange to hide what is truly his album's most powerful moment.

Recorded at Javelina Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

Personnel: Gary Allan (vocals); Jake Kelly, Rivers Rutherford, B. James Lowry (acoustic guitar); Jack Holder, Brent Rowan (electric guitar); Glen Duncan, Hank Singer (fiddle); Steve Nathan (piano, Wurlitzer organ, synthesizer); Chad Cromwell (drums); Tom Roady (percussion); Curtis Young, Harry Stinson, Dennis Williams, John Wesley Ryles (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Greg Droman.

Recording information: House Of Gain, Nashville, TN; Javelina Studios, Nashville, TN.

Photographer: E.J. Camp.

Personnel: Gary Allan (vocals); B. James Lowry (acoustic & 9 string acoustic guitars); Rivers Rutherford, Jake Kelly (acoustic guitar); Brent Rowan (electric guitar, tic tac); Jack Holder (electric guitar); Paul Franklin, Dan Dugmore (steel guitar); Hank Singer; Glen Duncan (fiddle); Steve Nathan (synthesizer, Wurlitzer, piano, B-3); John Barlow Jarvis (piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Michael Rhodes (bass); Chad Cromwell (drums); Tom Roady (percussion); Curtis Young, Dennis Williams, Harry Stinson, John Wesley Ryles (background vocals).

Entertainment Weekly (5/29/98, p.77) - "The sinewy, stylish follow-up to Allan's barnburnig debut catapults him above most of the neo-honky-tonkers by stripping the flash off of modern country and getting to the core of its neon heart..." - Rating: A