Gary Allen Biography
After many years of working the honky tonk circuit in his home state of California, Gary Allan, burst onto the country music scene in 1996 with the release of his gold-certified debut album, used hear for sale. His sound was a mix of traditional and contemporary, and he brought a fresh edge and originality that proved an immediate hit with country fans. A tireless and captivating performer with an uncompromising and honest attitude about the music he makes, Allan has carved out a wonderful career that shows no signs of slowing down.
Gary Allan was born on December 5, 1967 in La Mirada, California and raised by Harley and Mary Herzberg; music was always a big part of Allan’s life growing up. His mother always insisted that the family’s guitars always remained out in the open to encourage his musical inspiration. Just thirteen years old he began playing in the local honky tonks with his father. A&M Records took notice of young Allan’s talents and offered him a recording contract when he was just fifteen. His parents supported his musical aspirations, but they insisted he get complete high school before jumping full-time into music, so A&M’s offer was rejected.
After high school, Allan continued performing music in the local clubs with his band, the Honky Tonk Wranglers. In 1993, talent scout, Jim Seal, to producer/songwriter, Byron Hill, who brought in an A&R person from a major label to see Gary Allan perform. Everyone was knocked out by his performance, so Hill encouraged and helped Allan create some demo recordings that could be circulated through the industry.
Immediately after signing with Decca Records in 1996, Gary Allan went into the studio to begin work on his debut album, Used Heart for Sale. Hill...
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...ad” (No. 7) and “Life Ain’t Always Beautiful” (No. 4). After Allan’s next album, Greatest Hits, shot to No. 1, he returned with his seventh studio album, the gold-certified, living hard, which spawned three more hit singles, including “Watching Airplanes” (No. 2), “Learning How to Bend” (No. 13) and “She’s So California” (No. 24). His eighth studio album, Get Off on the Pain, is due in early 2010.
On March 8, 2006 in Nashville, TN. It was announced for the 41st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. Gary Allan has been nominated for Album of the Year, Tough All Over and Single of the Year Best I Ever Had. Winner’s will received their awards live from MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The ceremony, which honors country music’s top talent as well as the industry’s hottest emerging talent, did a broadcast on Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 at 8:00 PM ET/PT on CBS Television Network.
Over the years, Bryan made and grew friendships that would be essential in his walk towards musical legendry. His childhood best friend, Blue Note Records recording artist and jazz pianist, Robert Glasper, broadened his musical horizons further; introducing him to legendary jazz acts such as Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett. In high school, he met Greg Curtis, a producer who would become his mentor and give him his introduction to music technology. In college, he moved to Atlanta, GA and attended Clark-Atlanta University where he was discovered by Chris Hicks, a record executive and partner at Noontime Records would become his manager. It is through Hicks that Bryan was given an internship at Noontime Records, where he would go on to nurture his musical talents and in 1999 at the age of 21, earn his first production credit with the song "Get Done" by Houston based band, Ideal. While interning at Noontime, Bryan met two more people who forever shape him in his musical journey; Jermaine Dupri and Sam Thomas.
For almost 90 years, The Grand Ole Opry has withstood the test of time to become one of the tried and true traditions in country music. From the show's humble beginnings as an obscure radio program, to it's renowned place today as one of the premiere stages for music, The Grand Ole Opry has had an extremely colorful and interesting existence. Over the 88 years that have passed since the show's inception, The Grand Ole Opry has featured many talented performers. Those performers, along with social changes and economics, have all contributed to the growth and success of The Grand Ole Opry.
Country music is one of the most popular genres of music throughout America. There are many influential figures that have changed the way country music sounds, and how people interpret it. Two important people who have made a huge impact on country music overtime are Johnny Cash and Luke Bryan. From their early life, their career, and how society views them, they have opened the minds of people and country musicians all over the country. Johnny Cash’s songs help people to experience his life growing up through the Great Depression and how people lived back then. Through Luke Bryan’s songs people could understand what life was like for Luke growing up in Georgia and all the hardships he faced. Johnny Cash and Luke Bryan are two of the many country singers that have influenced country fans to be more optimistic and hopeful.
Country music, as we know it today, was first called “Hillbilly music”. The name “Country” was not widely used until around the 1950s. The creation of this Hillbilly music, very much like American culture, was influenced from many different cultures and styles of music.
His next album was a tribute too many of the influences in his life included several of his childhood
... Wagon Wheel, Radio, Lost in you, and Lie to me) on repeat and never get bored of them. My uncle introduced me to Hootie & the Blowfish when I was younger but I didn’t continue to listen to Darius, that much, until after I heard “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It”. Once I heard that song, I was hooked; I began to look up other songs by him and that is when I realized he was the lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish. Like I mentioned earlier, I prefer his country albums over his rock band albums. It may have to do with the fact that I am a country music lover but I just find myself singing along more and getting into his country music more.
Country music originated in the Appalachian mountains of the Southern United States and has traditional folk roots that date from the early 20th century. The commercial history of country music began in the Southern United States in the 1920’s, during a ‘period of intense modernization’ (Ellison, 1995). It wasn’t until this time that country was considered a viable music genre. It was first identified as ‘hillbilly’ music in 1925 and later became known officially as ‘country’ by its designation on the Billboard Music charts (Shmoop, 2014). Widely considered the ‘Mother Church’ of country, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville became the home of many emerging and already established artists (Tichi, 1994:21). Coupled with the rise of radio and barn dance programs, country’s popularity increased greatly. Ellison (1995) describes country’s evolution from ‘rustic radio programs’ to a genre with an ‘extensive national network of fans unparalled in other forms of popular music’. During the 1930’s, the Great Depression assisted in the spread of country music throughout the US, with many poor unemployed Southerners migrating north, t...
Sanneh, Kelefa. "Country Music? Whose Country?" The New York Times. 11 Nov. 2005. Web. 21 April 2011.
...lliam’s career were 1950and 1951. He was one of the most successful touring acts in country music. Every one of his records charted, except for those issued as “Luke the Drifter” and his religious songs with a female artist named Audrey. His songs had matured greatly since the demos he had submitted to Molly o Day, began finding a wider market than his own recordings of them ever could. Started with “Honky Tonkin” in 1949, his songs had been covered for the pop market, but it was not until Tony Bennett covered “Cold Cold Heart” in 1951 that he had began to recognize as an important popular songwriter. From that point, there was a rush to revise his songs for the pop market. Guy Mitchell, for instance, had a hit with “I Can’t Help It If I’m Still in Love with You”, and the pair of Frankie Lane and Jo Stafford took Hey, Good looking in the pop top ten. (Hank Williams)
At 10 years old, she started to perform for television and receiver shows in Knoxville. Importantly, she had her first performance at the Grande Ole Opry community where she moved to after high school. She lurched into a tour and produced her first record where she started to gain awards, eventually made it to the topmost of country music
After his parent’s divorce, he went to live with his father, and on the weekends he would go spend time with his mom and sister. When his father remarried, Cobain resented his stepmother, and her two children. One of the best things to happen to Cobain in that terrible time, was when he got a guitar from his uncle Chuck. Even though the instrument was fairly beat up, it inspired Cobain to learn and play and it offered a respite from his unhappiness at home. Cobain was angry and alienated, he thought his father always took his stepmothers side and he favored her children, and his step brother who was born in 1979. Cobain had begun experimenting with drugs in his teen years, and began to push himself farther away from his father.
His song “Strait Country” made with MCA came out in 1981. A year later he produced “Strait From the Heart” (MCA) in 1982. MCA records composed “ Right or Wrong “ in 1983 and “ Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?” in 1984. George’s “Something Special” formed in 1986 and “Merry Christmas Strait to You” in 1986.
The 'Standard' of the 11 November 2006 http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar525600>. Wells, Paul F. "Country music." World Book Online Reference Center. 2006.
orn in 1941 only 3 weeks apart from each other, Paul Simon and Arthur Garfunkel became good friends in Forest Hill elementary school in Queens, New York. What was unknown to them at the time was that this friendship would eventually lead to them becoming major contributors to Folk Rock and music holistically. Their friendship extended past elementary school as they lived 3 blocks away from each other and attended the same high school, Parsons Junior High School, where they discovered their mutual interest in music and began working on songs and practicing harmonies.