Harley Allen (June 2007)

Harley Allen's background is that of bluegrass music; Harley & his brothers toured & recorded as the Allen Brothers.  Harley’s late father, Red Allen, was not only one of the great lead voices in bluegrass, but also sang the low harmony part on some of the finest trios ever recorded with The Osbourne Brothers, including 'Once more' & 'My destiny'.

Red was clearly an influence on Harley’s singing, but also gave him his initial inspiration to write songs at an early age.  By the time Harley was in his late teens, his gift of songwriting started to take shape & he began building what would become a gigantic catalogue of songs.

Harley listened to some of the great songwriters & singers in country music, such as Hank Williams, Ira Louvin & Tom T. Hall & found kindred spirits in these performers.

Harley's move to Nashville’s Music Row from his home in Dayton, Ohio was a very natural one for him & his songwriting talent earned him an immediate staff writing position at the Ten Ten Music Group.  He also saw the release of 'Another River', a critically acclaimed album on Mercury Records.

Harley Allen's acclaimed songs have been recorded by a number of important artists within the country music genre; Garth Brooks ('Rollin'), Sammy Kershaw ('For years'), Alan Jackson ('Who I am', 'Everything I love', 'Between the devil & me' & 'Another good reason'), Gary Allan ('Bourbon borderline' & 'Learning to live with me'), Rhonda Vincent ('In your loneliness' & When loves arrives'), Tracy Byrd ('Cowgirl'), Alison Krauss ('It doesn't matter'), Wesley Dennis ('It ain't fair'), Ty England ('New faces in the fields'), Hal Ketchum ('No easy road' & 'Out of my hands'), Craig Morgan ('Paradise'), Mark Wills ('Still waiting'), Don Williams ('The dream'), George Jones ('The man he was') & John Michael Montgomery ('The little girl').

In May 2007, Gene Watson recorded 'In a perfect world', a track co-written by Harley Allen & Tim Mensy.  The track is the title cut of Gene Watson's debut album for Shanachie Records.

'In a Perfect World' was officially released on Tuesday 25 September 2007; at the time of its releases, the album was considered to be one of the more important country music albums of 2007.

Visit Harley Allen's Official Site