Gary Allan will release his first album in eight years with Ruthless, a collection of 13 songs due June 25th. It’s the follow-up to 2013’s Set You Free and follows a string of one-off singles he has released beginning in 2015.
The album news arrives with the record’s lead-off track, “Temptation.” Written by Nicolle Galyon, Chase McGill, and Jon Nite, it’s a pulsing mid-tempo song with emphatic drum hits and atmospheric string sounds. “I’m over getting drunk on you, but I’m always gonna miss that taste,” Allan sings. “Even if I never cross that line, you’ll always be my temptation.”
Ruthless features a number of Nashville producers, including Mark Wright, Tony Brown, Greg Droman, Jay Joyce, and Allan himself. “This is a montage of everything I have done since my last album,” the California native said in a statement. “It’s what I love. I remain influenced by the ’90s — as well as by the ’80s.”
Last year, Allan spoke to Rolling Stone about the 20th anniversary of his platinum-selling Smoke Rings in the Dark. “It was pivotal for me. It started to define a sound, and we had that sound before, but this record put a stamp on it. That was our thing after that,” he said. “It was cutting edge, but now you listen to it and it sounds so long ago.”
Ruthless tracklist:
1. “Temptation” (Written by Nicolle Galyon, Chase McGill and Jon Nite)
2. “Waste of a Whiskey Drink” (Written by Josh Kear, Michael Hardy and Mark Holman)
3. “Till It Felt Like You” (Written by Kyle Jacobs, Joe Leathers and Matt Warren)
4. “Slide” (Written by Ross Ellis, Alex Kline and Michael Whitworth)
5. “Pretty Damn Close” (Written by Gary Allan, Sarah Buxton, Rodney Clawson and Matt Warren)
6. “High As I’ve Ever Been” (Written by Matt Warren, James Slater and Skip Black)
7. “What I Can’t Talk About” (Written by Jim Beavers, Lindsay Rimes and Matt Rogers)
8. “Sex” (Written by Nicolle Galyon, Shane McAnally and Matt Jenkins)
9. “Trouble Knows Trouble” (Written by Steve Bogard, Jason Sever and John Edwards)
10. “Ruthless” (Written by Hillary Lindsey, busbee and Ryan Hurd)
11. “Unfiltered” (Written by Blair Daly, Brad Warren and Brett Warren)
12. “Little Glass of Wine” (Written by Jesse Winchester)
13. “The Hard Way” (Written by Matt Warren and Carey Ott)