Gary Allan Album: “See If I Care”

I think it's pretty offensive when Gary Allan is nominated for HORIZON awards, when he's been releasing albums since 1996. If anything he should be up for Entertainer of the Year or Male Vocalist of the Year at the country awards. But that's part of Allan's appeal, is that he isn't overplayed like other male acts, yet he still brings in the solid hits time after time. SEE IF I CARE is Allan's follow up to 2001's ALRIGHT GUY.

The album opens with "Drinkin Dark Whiskey", a strong contender for a single, a nice honky tonk to open the album with. The first single is the sentimental ballad "Tough Little Boys", which was a big hit for him. The title track is a great ballad that would also make a nice single. "Can't Do It Today" is an excellent country song, that pushes his vocals. Other highlights on the set include "Songs About Rain", "Nothing On But The Radio", "I Can Love You", and "Don't Look Away". Overall another solid set, with any justice he will find a lot of success with this album and get the acclaim he deserves.

Still trying to figure out why Gary isn't up there with Chesney, Urban and company in the popularity department. His cd's just keep getting better. I never tire of this cd or Smoke Rings in the Dark (my other favorite) though they all have something to offer a country music fan. He has one of the best voices in country music today. My favorite tracks are, "See If I Care" "Don't Look Away" and "You Don't Know A Thing About Me" but they are all quite good. He is definitely an artist with crossover appeal as my husband can attest to. Don't let the negative reviews fool you. If classical is your style you may want to look elsewhere, but if you like good country music don't miss this cd or the chance to see him live!

On 9/30 when this record came out, I rushed to the local music store only to find that it hadn't arrived. Sure, they had the new Sting and Dido CD's, but no Gary Allan. What the heck?!!! I live in Idaho people. Around here, you better have some country music! Anyway, this was perhaps the one time I've been glad to have Walmart nearby. Thank God they had it, because Gary Allan is the best thing going in country music. Every album has been wonderful and refreshing, and he has stayed true to the Bakersfield sound. Before his new album came out, I saw Gary on CMT and he said he thought "See If I Care" was probably his best, even better than his (and mine) previous favorite, "Smoke Rings In The Dark". I was a bit skeptical. I mean artists always talk up their latest release to sell records. But after one listen I found Gary wasn't kidding. "See If I Care" is gonna be big folks. At least it deserves to be. Gary's voice has never been better, and the album has a great mix of his trademark rasp and a gentle falsetto. The best cut is "Can't Do It Today", and my other favorites are "See If I Care", "Don't Look Away", and "You Don't Know A Thing About Me". "A Showman's Life", a duet with Willie Nelson, ain't a bad way to close the album either. My only complaint is Willie's (not Gary's) voice is the last one you hear before the CD ends. But that's a minor detail. This record is fantastic, something you'll enjoy from the first listen. And if you're already a Gary fan, what are you waiting for? Go get it!

The consistency is back! Allan's last album was a solid but uneven attempt. This is a 'listen-all-the-way-through' album. There's not a clunker in the set. I haven't owned this long enough to say whether this is as good as 'Smoke Rings in the Dark', but it's darn good. The opener is a rollicking barnburner that you'll probably never hear on the radio. The first single, 'Tough Little Boys' is a tearjerker...and a little outside Gary's usual area of song subjects, but a good song nonetheless. 'I Can Love You' will be Gary's biggest hit yet.... it's a love song not cut from the same cloth as the rest of Nashville's cliche-fests. If this record doesn't break Gary big, it's the world's loss... he's a star in my book, regardless. And this is a 4.68 star CD (rounded up to 5). Buy it!

This is one of the best Country albums to come out of a major Nashville label in quite a few years. After a pair of introductory albums that failed to fully catch Allan's brilliance, he's unspooled a trio of releases that find surer footing and better material. Though he occasionally dips into treacle, more often than not, he sings tunes with the surefooted confidence of a gunslinger.

The album's opener, "Drinking Dark Whiskey," sets the tone right out of the gate. Allan's vocal careens towards a hoarse yodel as the band rocks him along this honky-tonk tale of temptation's consequences. The zydeco-edged two-stepping "Guys Like Me" spells out Allan's lot in life, "There's no more smoky bars in California / There ain't no wild life left in Tennessee / But I keep on living every song I'm singin' / And they're trying to put an end to guys like me."

Allan's music takes in the romanticism and genre-blending of the Mavericks and Dwight Yoakam, but it also cuts sharp and dark, like the Clint-Black-meets-The-Smithereens "Can't Do It Today," on which the mix of pedal steel and electric piano provide a novel backing for Allan's impassioned vocals. Similarly, the mid-tempo, "Songs About Rain," is a country waltz whose echoes of pop songs is the perfect foil for Allan's gloomy day. The force of Allan's vocals, bottled up on ballads like Jamie O'Hara's "See If I Care," is even more impressive. The slower tempo and introspective lyrics strain to contain his heartbreak, lending the song a visceral emotional edge.

Allan may not be "The" voice, but he's certainly a unique voice, one whose raw talent and artistic burnish blows away anything else heard out of Nashville these days. Even the album's mainstream ballads, such as the album's hit single, "Tough Little Boys," and "I Can Love You" are surprisingly believable in Allan's capable hands. The shuffle-paced "Nothing on But the Radio," the languorous trail harmonies of "Don't Look Away," and a fine duet with Willie Nelson for Jesse Winchester's "A Showman's Life," amply demonstrate how finely he's tuned his ears for selecting material.