Flashback: Gary Allan, Smoke Rings in the Dark

Perhaps the greatest testament to Tony Brown’s deft touch as a record producer was the separation he created between Gary Allan’s excellent first Decca Records albums co-produced by Mark Wright and Byron Hill and his career defining third album, Smoke Rings in the Dark, his first record on MCA Nashville.

Both his 1996 debut Used Heart for Sale and his 1998 follow-up release It Would be You demonstrated an impeccable song-sense. Between those two albums, Allan recorded songs written by: Garth Brooks, George Ducas, Jim Lauderdale, Faron Young, Conway Twitty, Kostas, Bob McDill, Billy Yates, Jamie O’Hara, Marty Stuart, Billy Sherrill, and Kent Robbins.

On paper, the liner notes to both albums looked like an all-star lineup of Nashville’s best tune-smiths across eras and generations. How could he miss with country credentials like that? It felt like it was only a matter of time until his star rose.

Allan would initially live up to expectation and run the debut single from each album into the top ten, “Her Man” and “It Would Be You” respectively. But despite the outrageous songwriting depth on the albums, the subsequent radio singles all floundered just outside the top forty on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. He could not sustain what limited momentum he gained.

Prior to working with the top dog at MCA, Allan was considered more of a neo-traditionalist, an artist who tipped his hat to the sounds of the late eighties, early nineties, and even further back. Maybe Allan had come along a little too late to be meaningfully noticed so late in a decade that as beginning to look elsewhere for its identity. We had already seen a similar case of bad timing with Wade Hayes’ debut in 1995.

Tony Brown proved to be a game changer.

Allan said, working with Tony Brown was “pivotal” for him. Instead of looking back to country’s halcyon days, Brown got Allan turned around and looking forward. He sharpened Allan’s sound and actually widened his artistic focus with this album, even with Mark Wright still co-producing and Byron Hill acting as an associate producer.

Allan said, “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. It was cutting edge, but now you listen to it and it sounds so long ago.”

The sound that resonated so deeply with his fans was a wonderful balancing act between contemporary and classic country, a mix that sounded so essential on this significant record that it achieved platinum sales status despite still not producing a number one hit for Allan.

That achievement would come soon enough, but Brown and Allan collaborated to create something special with Smoke Rings in the Dark.

The hallmark of the album is the title track and its first single. Written by Rivers Rutherford and Houston Robert, “Smoke Rings in the Dark” smolders like “the burning end of a midnight cigarette.” It is ghostly and ethereal. The sexy goodbye song describes loneliness, long and cold nights, aching souls, whiskey, and fleeting touches. It is hypnotic, mesmerizing, and beautifully sung by Allan.

If the opening song suggested slowly waking from the elusive remnants of a dream, “Right Where I Need to Be” is the alarm clock. Pacing is everything with a well constructed albums and the heavy punch-back on the album’s second track would be its highest charting single, climbing to #5. It is a contemporary number that bristles with tension and determination. It is an adult song about finding the confidence to strike a work-life balance that actually works by favoring love and life.

Track number three sees Allan lean fully into his roots with the most country-sounding song on the album. “Don’t Tell Mama I Was Drinking” is a song about remorse, whiskey, a car-wreck, mom, and God. It is so country that it almost sounds like a parody.

The genius of this album lay with the direction Brown takes Allan with the fourth song. Three songs into the listening experience, and fans don’t know if they are listening to a Chris Isaak imitator, a Tom Petty pretender, or a Roy Acuff redux. Turns out they are listening to a Gary Allan who fully leans in to Jamie O’Hara’s brilliant “Lovin’ You Against My Will.” It matters that Allan is recording a non-traditional song from a contemporary writer and not back-sliding and covering forgotten classic hits from past stars. This song picks up the dreamy quality of the first track and maintains the tone and mood for the remainder of the album going forward.

In fact, this collection of twelve songs feels like a booster pack for country music as it drives the genre forward while still sounding country, comfortable, and familiar; Allan contains multitudes.

He chooses to celebrate and shine his vocal light on some of Nashville’s best songwriters. He will keep his needle in this very cool-sounding grove, singing another Jaime O’ Hara composition (“I’m The One”), a song by Kevin Welch (“Cryin’ For Nothin’”), and two cuts by Shawn Camp (“Sorry” and “Greenfields”). Harley Allen contributes two cuts as well (“Bourbon Borderline” and “Learning to Live With Me”).

It’s charming that Allan whistles his way into the heart of “Cowboy Blues,” a song that is just that, a lament about the drifting and roaming inherent to a showman’s life. Nobody told Allan about this part.

His one cover is an amped up and frenetic interpretation of Del Shannon’s 1961 hit “Runaway.” It matters that the vibe of this selection is more retro than old-school because it confidently keep’s Allan in his new found lane. Allan said, “I covered that song since I was a kid. We were done cutting and I turned around to Mark Wright and said, “I always wanted to cut this. Let’s one-pass it.” I played the intro, and my guitar player, Jake Kelly, played the solo and it was one pass. We loved it and Mark did too. He said, “Wow, that just made the record.” I had played it a thousand times before like that.”

Allan also touches on several themes and ideas on Smoke Rings in the Dark he will revisit in subsequent albums, but the magic is that it is all happening on this one, right now. He sustains a remarkable sense of immediacy, coherence, and urgency from start to finish.

Smoke Rings in the Dark felt and sounded like such an intentional album in 1996 that Allan explicitly tried to recapture its allure and appeal with his 2021 ’90’s inspired throwback album Ruthless.

That album deserved better than it got critically, but Allan’s artistic foot goes into the ground here with Smoke Rings in the Dark.

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