Living Hard was produced by Mark Wright and Gary Allan. It contains a total of eleven tracks covering multiple styles and topics. If you're an old Gary Allan fan or a new one, chances are you'll like this release. For Radney Foster fans, there's a cover of "Half Of My Mistakes" included as well.
When "Watching Airplanes" was released to radio and I heard it for the first time, I immediately thought that Gary was making progress moving on with his music and didn't sound in as much of a funk as he understandably was with his previous album. It made me feel good to know that he must be doing better. I think this is a good song to release as a first single. But to show he hasn't forgotten what happened, there is "Yesterday's Rain" (which Gary wrote along with Matt Warren and James LeBlanc). In it, he talks about how grey skies and clouds remind him of the woman he held so dear.
Past love is also the topic of "We Touched The Sun." Even if their relationship wasn't meant to last forever, at least they got to chase their dreams and fall in love "with open hearts" during the time they did share together. "What was like an endless summer / It's just yesterday" he sings along with "And even if it's not forever / We were meant to be together / Even if it's only for a while."
"Like It's A Bad Thing" is reminiscent of past Gary Allan songs. The man talks about how everyone in his life wants him to slow down but he wants to keep living every day like it's his last. Instead of taking the straight and narrow path he wants to have his fun living and loving before life passes by him. He's a unique individual who will do things the way he wants, despite the objections of friends.
Another song that reminds me of previous works is the awesome, "Wrecking Ball." I would love for this to be released as a single at some point in time, as it shares the honor of being my co-favorite from this album. I'm sure fans would love it just as much as I do. It's classic Gary with guitar solos, a heavy sound, and a gravelly voice in fine form. This song set on repeat would not bother me the slightest bit.
Track List:
- 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