July 12, 2021 • 9 mins
Cody Alan says Gary Allan's new album 'RUTHLESS' is "so freaking amazing."
On this episode of the Cody Cast podcast, Gary drops in to reveal what's behind the name and why it took so long to get this new music out.
PLUS: Cody reveals the lyric that hit him the hardest.
Get up to speed with Gary's new music and learn all about his custom jewelry company! That's right. Gary Allen is pursuing another creative endeavor. It's all in the details and available for you now.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Cody Cast. This is Cody Allen's podcast. So
many huge hits for Gary Allen over the years. I mean,
nothing on but the radio comes to mind first for me.
Always loved that one, Smoke Rings in the Dark. Of course,
man man watching airplanes. Every storm runs out of rain,
right where I need to be. I could go on
(00:20):
and on. Gary's with us on this podcast. Hey, Hey, Cody, Yo,
Gary Great? How are you? I'm doing great? Yeah, seriously,
like it's been forever. I thought I was like missing
other people during the pandemic, but I mean I feel
like I haven't seriously had a conversation with you in
a long time. It has been a while. It's hard
to even put time on things now because we lost
the like sixteen months. Even when you say it was
(00:43):
like a year ago, You're like, no, we lost that
year right right. Well, I'm excited to talk to you,
not only because you're a cool guy, but also, um,
this album is so freaking amazing. I appreciate it's called
Ruthless and it's been eight years, So tell me about
the time between the last project and now, and and
(01:04):
why was now the right time to bring this? This
is kind of the accumulation of I would say three
separate projects. I I had went in and recorded UM
an album, and uh turned it in, and the singles
that I thought should be singles, they didn't really hear
as singles, UM, which happened sometimes. UM. And then uh
(01:24):
we went back in and cut again. And that first
time I did it by myself with my my road band,
and that's uh like the what I Can't talk About
and little glass of wine stuff like that. And then
we went back in with Jay Joyce and I cut again,
and Uh we relieved we released a song. UM. And
well actually was before that, we released Hangover Tonight UM.
(01:47):
Bottom line, we when we got the second project out
that was kind of right in the middle of that
broke country thing and just didn't know how we were
going to fit into that format. So we just kind
of dragged our feet until some of that went away.
And then uh, the know, there's kind of a nineties
trend that was that was starting to happen, and I thought, man,
let's go put back the band that we had that
we did Smoke Rings with and getting marked right and
(02:08):
Tony Brown and go right at the heart of that
nineties thing and that's what we did on this. You
definitely can sense that and feel that, and yet it
also sounds completely modern. I mean it sounds two Um. Yeah.
You know what I love is the meeting nous of
all these lyrics. I mean, like Slide caught me right
off the bat with that roses and thorns, halos and horns.
(02:30):
I mean when a lyric catches me and I think,
oh my god, why why has this someone written that before?
Put that together before? It's brilliant? Thank you, Yeah, it's
And the cool thing was was I've never had this
many songs to choose from. Um, I've always cut thirteen
songs and put out eleven of them. But I think
I cut twenty eight or thirty songs over the all
this time. So to go back and pull thirteen, I
(02:51):
feel like made for a really strong album. Really excited
for people to hear this. The album cover has a
skeleton cowboy riding a skeleton horse, which nothing says AD
asked more than that does? I like a lot. The
title is ruthless, So tell us about the title and
why that were, what it means to you? You know,
when when I always picked titles for for the for
the albums. I always just picture what looks good on
(03:13):
the shelf, because I grew up in music stores where
you walking around picking up records and looking at him
or reading them. And Gary Allen, ruthless just rings with me.
And what does ruthless mean to you? Why? Why does
that fit you? Ruthless? Um, that's somebody that gets what
they want. It all costs, ruthless and maybe sex at
all costs. Actually, the song on there, I thought alcohol
(03:36):
was so clever from Brad Paisley back in the day,
and um, this song called sex on there actually never
says the word but you know exactly what you're talking
about from the first lyric talking about it. You know,
we'll take it to a bar, you'll take it to
the moon. And then I loved in a one horse town.
It will keep you in the closet. I mean all
these things that are just so I know you write
most of your own stuff. Did you write that one?
(03:58):
Or who? Um? I didn't write that Shane mcinally um,
And he's he is such a chameleon. He he writes
for everybody and he's got his hand in everything. But uh,
I've I've I tested that song on the road playing
it acoustically for a long time, and it's it just
goes over huge. Every lyric in there makes me smile. Um,
and I want all the DJs on the planet to say,
(04:19):
and this is sex. Yeah, I can't wait to say it.
I know some of these songs came from over the pandemic,
like you mentioned, Um, so did you have a lot
of extra time to sort of sit and and consider,
you know, the songs and music differently? Yeah. Um, you
know the first part of the pandemic, I was just
kind of in a funk and just kind of hit
(04:40):
at my house and didn't go out. I was washing
my vegetables and spraying down my groceries and uh, like
everybody else. And then uh, eventually one of my buddies
that has a boat talked to me into getting on
an airplane and planing out there. So I spent the
last few months out there just fission and cruising around
and uh. It kind of brought a little sunnier side
to the end of this thing for me. Um. But
(05:01):
you know what, it it ended up being a good
thing for me. My family is is a lot tighter. Um.
You know, things like that, all our all our relationships
got a lot better, just because I've never been home
this much. So and how it was a good thing
for me. For me too, I spent a lot of
time doing things that I had not taken time for
over the ten, you know whatever years before of just
(05:21):
traveling NonStop. Um, You've got, like me, kids who are
grown now. I think all your kids are grown up. Um.
I kind of enjoyed over the past you're getting to
know them, you know, as they've gotten older. You know,
we bonded in some some ways that I don't think
we had time too before. So how about you as
with grown up kids, have you learned something from them
over the past little while? Yeah, big time or just
(05:43):
our bond just got tighter. Um. My oldest daughter works
for me. She have a jewelry company, so she works
at my house in my shop every day. Um. And
just being able to be around. And I have a
granddaughter that's thirteen. Um, and you know I taught her
how to wake, surf and and and all these. Yeah,
just just the amount of time that I never had
because I, like you, was always on the go, always
missing the birthdays, always missing something, um, and to uh
(06:07):
to just have you know, I've never had that kind
of time in my life just to sit around and
just to be with people. Um. I think for everybody
your your relationship either just got worse and you and
you kick them out or or you just got a
lot better. Tell about the jewelry company. I need to
be doing that for a little while. Um what's the
name of it? And how can people get ahold of it?
You get it on Gary Allen dot com. It's uh
(06:29):
Gary Allen Custom Jewelry is a name of my company.
And uh yeah, we do everything from like engagement rings
to uh you know, custom skulls to uh I do
like lyric beads for all my songs. Um, yeah, we do.
We probably put out probably a hundred two hundred pieces
of a a month. Um. It's definitely a full time job
for my daughter and uh and uh I get in
(06:50):
there when I can. And when you're not doing that,
you're making a new line of whiskey as well, I understand.
Is it called weed whiskey? Is that right? Weed Sellers? Yeah,
there's there's a there's a We've got like seven or
eight different wines from Napa Valley. We have a prosecco
from Italy. Um, we have a killer bourbon um, and
we're about to release a vodka that's from Italy too,
(07:11):
but it's all just under the same brand weed sellers.
I'm a Vaca fan, so bring it um. I'll accept
a free bottle anytime. Yeah. UM. When you're not making music,
who are you listening to? You know? I usually listened
to like Frank Sinatra on Pandora, I listened to eighties
eighties uh, eighties country, um and the and then after
(07:33):
that it would just be playlist which would have everything
from Frank Sinatra to Merle Haggard to the Counting Crows too,
you know, rehab all of it. I know you're back
at it on the road doing concert stops all across
the country over the next few months. So where's that
stand right now? Um? I have done five shows so far,
and I have a I'm doing a free show here
in Nashville on Friday, and then we leave immediately from
(07:55):
there to play in Fort Worth, and then I don't
have another weekend off probably for the rest of the year.
You've got, like I mentioned earlier, such a huge collection
of songs. When you're making that set list, I can
only imagine that it's difficult. So how do you decide
what songs included? Not? I have we have? We have
to make our set list like that. First, I always
want to play all the new music. And then you know,
(08:15):
but you can't go out and play ten songs that
nobody has heard. Otherwise you're taken out ten hits. So
you know, you know the right where I need to be?
Every storm runs at rain or man Um, there's just
no way to Uh. I always end up making a
set list and then we go play it once and
then I go, ah, it's not gonna work. And then
we changed three songs every year, so I put three
of the new one in there on this year, and
(08:36):
U that's probably as much change is going to get
because nobody wants to hear me sing songs they've never heard.
Your signature song may in fact be on this new
Ruthless album. It's that good. But when you think about
the signature song that you'll be remembered for forever, what
what comes to mind with Probably every storm runs out
of rain or right where I need to be in
(08:58):
the dark. Yes, smell greens, Yeah, you play that every
show too, Right about rain? Yeah, there's a bunch of
them that you just have to play man. I'm just
such a fan, love what you do. And like I said,
Ruthless is the new album out now and it's um incredible,
so people need to check it out. Thank you again
for the time. Appreciate it. Thanks, I appreciate that. Take care. Thanks.
(09:18):
This has been Cody cast to subscribe now on iTunes
listen anytime on the I Heart Radio app. Cody is
heard on hundreds of radio stations across America and seen
on CMT Hot twenty Countdown every weekend. For more, go
to CMT Cody dot com.
Welcome to Cody Cast. This is Cody Allen's podcast. So
many huge hits for Gary Allen over the years. I mean,
nothing on but the radio comes to mind first for me.
Always loved that one, Smoke Rings in the Dark. Of course,
man man watching airplanes. Every storm runs out of rain,
right where I need to be. I could go on
(00:20):
and on. Gary's with us on this podcast. Hey, Hey, Cody, Yo,
Gary Great? How are you? I'm doing great? Yeah, seriously,
like it's been forever. I thought I was like missing
other people during the pandemic, but I mean I feel
like I haven't seriously had a conversation with you in
a long time. It has been a while. It's hard
to even put time on things now because we lost
the like sixteen months. Even when you say it was
(00:43):
like a year ago, You're like, no, we lost that
year right right. Well, I'm excited to talk to you,
not only because you're a cool guy, but also, um,
this album is so freaking amazing. I appreciate it's called
Ruthless and it's been eight years, So tell me about
the time between the last project and now, and and
(01:04):
why was now the right time to bring this? This
is kind of the accumulation of I would say three
separate projects. I I had went in and recorded UM
an album, and uh turned it in, and the singles
that I thought should be singles, they didn't really hear
as singles, UM, which happened sometimes. UM. And then uh
(01:24):
we went back in and cut again. And that first
time I did it by myself with my my road band,
and that's uh like the what I Can't talk About
and little glass of wine stuff like that. And then
we went back in with Jay Joyce and I cut again,
and Uh we relieved we released a song. UM. And
well actually was before that, we released Hangover Tonight UM.
(01:47):
Bottom line, we when we got the second project out
that was kind of right in the middle of that
broke country thing and just didn't know how we were
going to fit into that format. So we just kind
of dragged our feet until some of that went away.
And then uh, the know, there's kind of a nineties
trend that was that was starting to happen, and I thought, man,
let's go put back the band that we had that
we did Smoke Rings with and getting marked right and
(02:08):
Tony Brown and go right at the heart of that
nineties thing and that's what we did on this. You
definitely can sense that and feel that, and yet it
also sounds completely modern. I mean it sounds two Um. Yeah.
You know what I love is the meeting nous of
all these lyrics. I mean, like Slide caught me right
off the bat with that roses and thorns, halos and horns.
(02:30):
I mean when a lyric catches me and I think,
oh my god, why why has this someone written that before?
Put that together before? It's brilliant? Thank you, Yeah, it's
And the cool thing was was I've never had this
many songs to choose from. Um, I've always cut thirteen
songs and put out eleven of them. But I think
I cut twenty eight or thirty songs over the all
this time. So to go back and pull thirteen, I
(02:51):
feel like made for a really strong album. Really excited
for people to hear this. The album cover has a
skeleton cowboy riding a skeleton horse, which nothing says AD
asked more than that does? I like a lot. The
title is ruthless, So tell us about the title and
why that were, what it means to you? You know,
when when I always picked titles for for the for
the albums. I always just picture what looks good on
(03:13):
the shelf, because I grew up in music stores where
you walking around picking up records and looking at him
or reading them. And Gary Allen, ruthless just rings with me.
And what does ruthless mean to you? Why? Why does
that fit you? Ruthless? Um, that's somebody that gets what
they want. It all costs, ruthless and maybe sex at
all costs. Actually, the song on there, I thought alcohol
(03:36):
was so clever from Brad Paisley back in the day,
and um, this song called sex on there actually never
says the word but you know exactly what you're talking
about from the first lyric talking about it. You know,
we'll take it to a bar, you'll take it to
the moon. And then I loved in a one horse town.
It will keep you in the closet. I mean all
these things that are just so I know you write
most of your own stuff. Did you write that one?
(03:58):
Or who? Um? I didn't write that Shane mcinally um,
And he's he is such a chameleon. He he writes
for everybody and he's got his hand in everything. But uh,
I've I've I tested that song on the road playing
it acoustically for a long time, and it's it just
goes over huge. Every lyric in there makes me smile. Um,
and I want all the DJs on the planet to say,
(04:19):
and this is sex. Yeah, I can't wait to say it.
I know some of these songs came from over the pandemic,
like you mentioned, Um, so did you have a lot
of extra time to sort of sit and and consider,
you know, the songs and music differently? Yeah. Um, you
know the first part of the pandemic, I was just
kind of in a funk and just kind of hit
(04:40):
at my house and didn't go out. I was washing
my vegetables and spraying down my groceries and uh, like
everybody else. And then uh, eventually one of my buddies
that has a boat talked to me into getting on
an airplane and planing out there. So I spent the
last few months out there just fission and cruising around
and uh. It kind of brought a little sunnier side
to the end of this thing for me. Um. But
(05:01):
you know what, it it ended up being a good
thing for me. My family is is a lot tighter. Um.
You know, things like that, all our all our relationships
got a lot better, just because I've never been home
this much. So and how it was a good thing
for me. For me too, I spent a lot of
time doing things that I had not taken time for
over the ten, you know whatever years before of just
(05:21):
traveling NonStop. Um, You've got, like me, kids who are
grown now. I think all your kids are grown up. Um.
I kind of enjoyed over the past you're getting to
know them, you know, as they've gotten older. You know,
we bonded in some some ways that I don't think
we had time too before. So how about you as
with grown up kids, have you learned something from them
over the past little while? Yeah, big time or just
(05:43):
our bond just got tighter. Um. My oldest daughter works
for me. She have a jewelry company, so she works
at my house in my shop every day. Um. And
just being able to be around. And I have a
granddaughter that's thirteen. Um, and you know I taught her
how to wake, surf and and and all these. Yeah,
just just the amount of time that I never had
because I, like you, was always on the go, always
missing the birthdays, always missing something, um, and to uh
(06:07):
to just have you know, I've never had that kind
of time in my life just to sit around and
just to be with people. Um. I think for everybody
your your relationship either just got worse and you and
you kick them out or or you just got a
lot better. Tell about the jewelry company. I need to
be doing that for a little while. Um what's the
name of it? And how can people get ahold of it?
You get it on Gary Allen dot com. It's uh
(06:29):
Gary Allen Custom Jewelry is a name of my company.
And uh yeah, we do everything from like engagement rings
to uh you know, custom skulls to uh I do
like lyric beads for all my songs. Um, yeah, we do.
We probably put out probably a hundred two hundred pieces
of a a month. Um. It's definitely a full time job
for my daughter and uh and uh I get in
(06:50):
there when I can. And when you're not doing that,
you're making a new line of whiskey as well, I understand.
Is it called weed whiskey? Is that right? Weed Sellers? Yeah,
there's there's a there's a We've got like seven or
eight different wines from Napa Valley. We have a prosecco
from Italy. Um, we have a killer bourbon um, and
we're about to release a vodka that's from Italy too,
(07:11):
but it's all just under the same brand weed sellers.
I'm a Vaca fan, so bring it um. I'll accept
a free bottle anytime. Yeah. UM. When you're not making music,
who are you listening to? You know? I usually listened
to like Frank Sinatra on Pandora, I listened to eighties
eighties uh, eighties country, um and the and then after
(07:33):
that it would just be playlist which would have everything
from Frank Sinatra to Merle Haggard to the Counting Crows too,
you know, rehab all of it. I know you're back
at it on the road doing concert stops all across
the country over the next few months. So where's that
stand right now? Um? I have done five shows so far,
and I have a I'm doing a free show here
in Nashville on Friday, and then we leave immediately from
(07:55):
there to play in Fort Worth, and then I don't
have another weekend off probably for the rest of the year.
You've got, like I mentioned earlier, such a huge collection
of songs. When you're making that set list, I can
only imagine that it's difficult. So how do you decide
what songs included? Not? I have we have? We have
to make our set list like that. First, I always
want to play all the new music. And then you know,
(08:15):
but you can't go out and play ten songs that
nobody has heard. Otherwise you're taken out ten hits. So
you know, you know the right where I need to be?
Every storm runs at rain or man Um, there's just
no way to Uh. I always end up making a
set list and then we go play it once and
then I go, ah, it's not gonna work. And then
we changed three songs every year, so I put three
of the new one in there on this year, and
(08:36):
U that's probably as much change is going to get
because nobody wants to hear me sing songs they've never heard.
Your signature song may in fact be on this new
Ruthless album. It's that good. But when you think about
the signature song that you'll be remembered for forever, what
what comes to mind with Probably every storm runs out
of rain or right where I need to be in
(08:58):
the dark. Yes, smell greens, Yeah, you play that every
show too, Right about rain? Yeah, there's a bunch of
them that you just have to play man. I'm just
such a fan, love what you do. And like I said,
Ruthless is the new album out now and it's um incredible,
so people need to check it out. Thank you again
for the time. Appreciate it. Thanks, I appreciate that. Take care. Thanks.
(09:18):
This has been Cody cast to subscribe now on iTunes
listen anytime on the I Heart Radio app. Cody is
heard on hundreds of radio stations across America and seen
on CMT Hot twenty Countdown every weekend. For more, go
to CMT Cody dot com.
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