History Music / GaryAllan

In 2005, Allan's wife committed suicide, leading to the very dark but very well-received ''Tough All Over'', driven by a cover of Music/VerticalHorizon's "Best I Ever Had". ''Living Hard'', ''Get Off on the Pain'', and ''Set You Free'' followed in the similarly dark and moody mode, with the last of these producing his biggest hit to date, "Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)". Diminishing returns on singles have stalled the release of any subsequent albums.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Before ''Tough All Over'', his voice was softer, and his material was generally more upbeat (with occasional exceptions such as "Smoke Rings in the Dark" and "No Judgment Day"). However, after his wife committed suicide in 2005, he seemed to undergo a permanently DarkerAndEdgier sound, with heavier production, raspier vocals, and melancholy lyrics.

A CountryMusic singer hailing from La Mirada, California. Gary Allan Herzberg (born December 5, 1967) began playing in local bars with his dad, drawing influence from Bakersfield country such as Music/BuckOwens. In 1996, Decca Records picked him up and he issued ''Used Heart for Sale'' and ''It Would Be You''. Both albums had one Top 10 hit each, but singles were otherwise unsuccessful and reception mixed.

After Decca closed, he was taken over by MCA Records, where he broke through with a string of successful albums: ''Smoke Rings in the Dark'', ''Alright Guy'' (which produced his first #1 hit "Man to Man"), and ''See If I Care''.

A CountryMusic singer hailing from La Mirada, California. Gary Allan Herzberg began playing in local bars with his dad, drawing influence from Bakersfield country such as Music/BuckOwens. In 1996, Decca Records picked him up and he issued ''Used Heart for Sale'' and ''It Would Be You''. Both albums had one Top 10 hit each, but singles were otherwise unsuccessful and reception mixed.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: His cover of Todd Snider's "Alright Guy" softens a few of the lyrics: "Now maybe I'm dirty and maybe I smoke a little dope / Hey, it ain't like I'm goin' on TV and [[Music/SineadOConnor tearin' up pictures of the Pope]]" became "This one time for medicinal purposes, they forced me to smoke some dope / I'm pretty sure I can still be the President, but I don't think I'll ever get to be the Pope". [[ZigZaggedTrope Surprisingly]], the line referring to a group of police officers as "a couple of dicks" was uncensored, despite being muted in the radio edit of Snider's version.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Before ''Tough All Over'', his voice was softer, and his material was generally more upbeat (with a few exceptions like "Smoke Rings in the Dark"). However, after his wife committed suicide in 2005, he seemed to undergo a permanently DarkerAndEdgier sound, with heavier production, raspier vocals, and melancholy lyrics.

* RetCon: Partway into the chart run of "Right Where I Need to Be", ''Billboard'' shrank the Hot Country Songs chart from 75 to 60 positions. As a result, every song on the charts at the time had its number of weeks altered to count only weeks spent at #60 or higher. This meant that by the new rules, "Right Where I Need to Be" would only have 16 weeks counted instead of 23, thus allowing it to stay on and eventually climb to #5.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: His cover of Todd Snider's "Alright Guy" softens a few of the lyrics: "Now maybe I'm dirty and maybe I smoke a little dope / Hey, it ain't like I'm goin' on TV and [[Music/SineadOConnor tearin' up pictures of the Pope]]" became "This one time for medicinal purposes, they forced me to smoke some dope / I'm pretty sure I can still be the President, but I don't think I'll ever get to be the Pope".