Living Hard is the seventh studio album by American country music singer Gary Allan. It was released on October 23, 2007 via MCA Nashville.
The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling approximately 69,000 copies during its first week.Katie Hasty, "Underwood Leads Three Country Debuts Onto Chart", Billboard.com, October 31, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Watching Airplanes", reached number 2 on the country charts, its second single "Learning How to Bend" peaked at number 13, and the third single "She's So California" went to number 24. "Like It's a Bad Thing" was later recorded by Danny Gokey on his 2010 debut album My Best Days. "Half of My Mistakes" was written by Bobby Houck and Radney Foster and originally recorded by Houck's band, the Blue Dogs, on their 2004 album, Halos and Good Buys, then by Foster on his 2004 album And Then There's Me (The Back Porch Sessions), and finally by Jace Everett on his 2005 self-titled debut album.
Track listing
Personnel From Living Hard liner notes.
Musicians and vocalists Gary Allan – vocals Steve Nathan – acoustic piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, Hammond B3 organ Kenny Greenberg – electric guitars Russ Pahl – acoustic guitars, steel guitar Brent Rowan – electric guitars John Willis – acoustic guitars, mandolin Jaime Hanna – electric guitar (3), backing vocals (3) Robby Turner – steel guitar Dan Dugmore – steel guitar (3) Michael Rhodes – bass Glenn Worf – bass Chad Cromwell – drums Eric Darken – percussion Hank Singer – fiddle The Love Sponge Strings – strings (1, 5) Kristin Wilkinson – string arrangements (1, 5) Stephen Lamb – copyist (1, 5) Perry Coleman – backing vocals (1) Wes Hightower – backing vocals Russell Terrell – backing vocals Jon Randall – backing vocals (3) Jerry Flowers – backing vocals (7)
Production Gary Allan – producer Mark Wright – producer Greg Droman – recording, mixing Steve Beers – recording assistant Leslie Richter – recording assistant Ben Terry – recording assistant Daewoo Kim – additional recording assistant Bobby Shin – additional recording assistant Hank Williams – mastering at MasterMix (Nashville, Tennessee) Carie Higdon – project coordinator Craig Allen – art direction, design Tony Baker – photography Renee Layher – wardrobe stylist Katinka Selesnick – hair, make-up John Lytle – management
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2007) Peakposition
Year-end charts Chart (2007) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard) 74 Chart (2008) Position US Billboard 200 143 US Top Country Albums (Billboard) 24
Certifications
References