Gary Allan at Coyote's

By Rob Greenwell

Gary Allan is not your mega/superstar with a flashy set and a lot of lights who bounces around the stage like a Mexican jumping bean. Allan's act is simple and straightforward - hard driving music and lyrics that will chill you to the bone. His touring philosophy is also considered weird in today's standards: give the audience 100% effort, what they want and leave them feeling breathless.

Allan accomplished all of the above at Coyote's on November 8. Don't get me wrong, he promoted his new album, which was released a couple of weeks before this show, but when you give the crowd two hours and fifteen minutes, you can play most of the cuts off the new album, along with some great country covers, and still do enough of the hits to make the crowd happy.

He sang "Wine Me Up," Haggard essentials "Swinging Doors" and "Fighting Side Of Me" and many cuts off the new album, including "Man of Me," the new smash single, "What I'd Say," "Devil's Candy" and "Doing My Best." He didn't disappoint the fans who wanted to hear his hits, including "Loving You Against My Will," "Her Man," "It Would Be You," "Smoke Rings" and "Right Where I Need to Be."

It's funny that an artist who has not been getting any help from radio has become one of the hottest stars in country music. Apparently, the lack of help from radio is just fine with him. He writes and performs songs that radio can't help but play because his fans call and bug the radio people to death. It also doesn't hurt that many women see him as one of the hottest sex symbols in the business, which is not bad when it's been demonstrated that women buy the most albums at the record stores. He has been fortunate enough to buck the Nashville trend and still do his own thing: be Gary Allan, live country music performer.