Gene Watson's Peers: Harley Allen
Gene Watson's peers within the country music industry
believe in the sheer talent of this unassuming man from east Texas, so much
so that Gene is regarded by many of them as 'the singer's singer' - and
rightly so!
All of Gene's Peers who were contacted in 2007 were most gracious with their
time & words. It is here, within this special part of gene-watson.com, that
you have an opportunity to read a quote from
Harley Allen, which he
submitted to this site on Sunday 24 June 2007.
Sean Brady would like to take this opportunity to say 'thank you' to
Harley Allen who has
made a special contribution to a unique part of this online 'celebration of
a Lone Star Hero'.
Harley Allen
This quote was submitted on Sunday 24 June 2007
'Gene Watson is still one of the top five best country
singers of all time'.
Thank you, Harley Allen,
for your support of Gene Watson.
About Harley Allen...
Harley Allen was born
in Dayton, Ohio on Monday 23 January 1956 & his background was 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 song-writing 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 Allen's move to Nashville’s Music Row from his home in Dayton, Ohio
was a very natural one for him & his song-writing talent earned him an
immediate staff writing position at the Ten Ten Music Group. Harley
also saw the release (in 1996) of 'Another River' (Polygram/Mercury
Records, 1996), a critically acclaimed
album on Mercury Records.
'I am a man of constant sorrow' was included on the soundtrack of the movie
'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'. Performed by the fictitious Soggy Bottom
Boys in the movie, it was recorded by Dan Tyminski, Harley Allen & Pat
Enright.
The song was a hit in the movie for the Soggy Bottom Boys & later became a
hit single in real life. It received a CMA Award for 'Single of the
Year' & a Grammy for 'Best Country Collaboration with Vocals' & it peaked at
No.35 on the Billboard Hot Country Song chart.
Harley Allen's acclaimed songs have been recorded by a
number of important artists within the country music genre:
Alan Jackson recorded Harley Allen's 'The angels
cried' (co-written with Debbie Nims) & included the track on 'A Honky Tonk
Christmas' (Arista Records, 1993); the track features guest vocals from
Alison Krauss
Alan Jackson recorded Harley Allen's 'Who I am' (co-written with
Mel Besher) & included the track
on 'Who I Am' (Arista
Records, 1994)
Hal Ketchum
recorded Harley Allen's 'No easy road' & included the track on
'Every Little Word' (Curb Records, 1994)
Garth Brooks recorded Harley Allen's 'Rollin' & included the track
on 'Fresh Horses' (Capitol
Records, 1995)
Wesley Dennis recorded Harley Allen's 'It ain't fair' & included
the track on 'Wesley
Dennis' (Mercury Records, 1995)
Claire Lynch recorded Harley Allen's 'Pee Wee
& Fern' (co-written with Mel Besher) & included the track on 'Moonlighter'
(Rounder Records, 1995)
Ty England recorded Harley Allen's 'New faces in the fields' &
included the track on 'Ty
England' (RCA Records, 1995)
Sammy Kershaw
recorded Harley Allen's 'For years' & included the track on
'Politics, Religion &
Her' (Mercury Records, 1996)
Alan Jackson recorded Harley Allen's 'Everything I love'
(co-written with Carson Chamberlain) &
included the track on
'Everything I Love' (Arista Records, 1996)
Alan Jackson recorded Harley Allen's 'Between the devil
& me'
(co-written with Carson Chamberlain)
& included the track on
'Everything I Love' (Arista Records, 1996)
Tracy Byrd recorded Harley Allen's 'Cowgirl' (co-written with
Shawn Camp) & included the track on 'Big Love' (MCA
Records, 1996)
Alison Krauss & Union Station recorded Harley Allen's 'It doesn't matter'
& included the track on 'So Long
So Wrong' (Rounder Records, 1997)
John & Audrey Wiggins recorded Harley Allen's 'The
dream' (co-written with Clive Williams) & included the track on 'The Dream'
(Polygram Records, 1997)
Alan Jackson recorded Harley Allen's 'Another good reason'
(co-written with Carson Chamberlain) &
included the track on 'High
Mileage' (Arista Records, 1999)
Gary Allan recorded Harley Allen's 'Bourbon borderline'
(co-written with John W. Wiggins & Jennifer Ribeau) & included the track on 'Smoke Rings in the Dark' (MCA Records, 1999)
Gary Allan recorded Harley
Allen's 'Learning to live with me' (co-written with Gary Burr) & included
the track on 'Smoke Rings in the Dark' (MCA Records, 1999)
Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt & Dolly Parton
recorded Harley Allen's 'High Sierra' & included the track on 'Trio II'
(Asylum Records, 1999)
Craig Morgan recorded Harley Allen's 'Paradise' (co-written with
Craig Morgan) & included the track
on 'Craig Morgan'
(Atlantic Records, 2000)
Mark Wills recorded Harley Allen's 'Still waiting' & included the
track on 'Permanently'
(Mercury Nashville, 2000)
Alan Jackson recorded Harley Allen's 'Meat & potato man'
(co-written with John Pennell) & included the
track on 'When Somebody Loves You' (Arista Records, 2000)
Alan Jackson recorded Harley Allen's 'I still love you' & included the
track on 'When Somebody Loves You' (Arista Records, 2000)
Alan Jackson recorded Harley Allen's 'Life or love' (co-written
with Gary Cotton) & included the
track on 'When Somebody Loves You' (Arista Records, 2000)
Gary Allan recorded Harley Allen's 'Devil's candy' (co-written with Carson
Chamberlain) & included the track on 'Alright Guy' (MCA Records, 2001)
Alan Jackson recorded Harley Allen's 'I slipped
& fell in love' (co-written with John Wiggins) & included the track on 'Drive' (Arista
Records, 2002)
Rhonda Vincent
recorded Harley Allen's 'In your
loneliness' & included the
track on 'Written in the
Stars' (Giant Records, 2003)
Rhonda Vincent
recorded Harley Allen's 'When loves arrives' & included the
track on 'Written in the
Stars' (Giant Records, 2003)
Dierks Bentley recorded Harley Allen's 'My last
name' (co-written with Dierks Bentley) & included the track on 'Dierks
Bentley' (Capitol Nashville Records, 2003)
Josh Turner recorded Harley Allen's 'I had one one time' (co-written with
Don Sampson) & included the track on 'Long Black Train' (MCA Nashville
Records, 2003)
Blake Shelton recorded Harley Allen's 'The baby'
(co-written with Michael White) & included the track on 'The Dreamer'
(Warner Bros. Records, 2003)
Joe Diffie recorded Harley Allen's 'Something I do for
me' (co-written with Joe Diffie) & included the track on 'Tougher Than
Nails' (Broken Bow Records, 2004)
Blake Shelton recorded Harley Allen's 'When somebody knows you that
well' (co-written with Jimmy Melton) & included the track on
'Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill' (Warner Bros. Records, 2004)
Blake Shelton recorded Harley Allen's 'The bartender' & included the track on
'Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill' (Warner Bros. Records, 2004)
Joe Nichols
recorded Harley Allen's 'If nobody believed in you'
& included the track on 'Revelation' (Universal South Records, 2004)
Joe Nichols recorded Harley Allen's 'I'll wait for you'
(co-written with Bill Anderson) & included
the track on 'III' (Universal South Records, 2005)
Gene Watson recorded Harley Allen's 'In a perfect
world' (co-written with
Tim Mensy) & included the track on
'In a Perfect World'
(Shanachie Records,
2007)
Gene Watson recorded Harley Allen's 'Still
they call me love'
(co-written with John Wiggins)
& included the track on
'A Taste of the Truth' (Shanachie Records, 2009)
Daryle Singletary recorded Harley Allen's 'That's
why God made me'
(co-written with Jimmy Melton)
& included the track on
'Rockin' in the Country' (E1 Music Records, 2009)
On Wednesday 30 March 2011, highly acclaimed &
respected songwriter Harley Allen
passed
away in Nashville; he
succumbed to cancer early on that morning.
Known as a country music traditionalist,
Harley Allen is credited with hits including Blake Shelton’s 'The baby',
Joe Nichols’ 'I’ll wait for you' & Darryl
Worley’s 'Awful, beautiful life'. Harley Allen was fifty-five years
old.
Harley, a songwriter at Harlan Howard Songs, also had numerous cuts by Alan
Jackson, Dierks Bentley, Gary Allan, Garth Brooks, Josh Turner,
Hal Ketchum,
Claire
Lynch, Wesley Dennis, Ty England,
Sammy
Kershaw, Tracy Byrd, Alison Krauss & Union Station, John & Audrey
Wiggins, Craig Morgan, Mark Wills,
Rhonda
Vincent
&
Joe Diffie.
Harley Allen had been battling lung cancer for a short time & was released
from the hospital on Tuesday 29 March 2011. He passed away peacefully
at home in Nashville with his family by his side.
Harley Allen is survived by wife Debbie Nims, son Aaron and daughters Katie
& Maggie.
Funeral services were held on Wednesday 6 April 2011 at 11.00am at Christ
Church, 15354 Old Hickory Boulevard in Nashville.
Visit Harley Allen's
Official MySpace Site
