Many people in the northeast section of the United States have been affected by the devastation from Hurricane Sandy, and those events have moved country star Gary Allan beyond words – so he’s trying to help with his music – and video.
The clip for his latest single, “Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain),” has been tagged with a screen that encourages donations to the American Red Cross. The singer is also offering a free download of the song as an incentive for fans to donate. Watch:
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Allan told Billboard about filming the video. “We shot the video in the meat packing district in Nashville at the Slaughter House, I think it’s called. It kind of gave the vibe of an apartment complex with the walls blown out. We shot the band on top in the rain, and a crane would swoop down the side of the building like it was an apartment. We had a girl who was kind of lonely and sad, and her soldier comes home at the end, and we put a tie to the Red Cross so people can help and donate to the victims of Hurricane Sandy.”
When asked why many country artists are helping out with fund-raising efforts for those left in Sandy’s wake, he says that many of them can understand what they are going through. “I think because Nashville just got flooded in 2010, it was a lot easier to be sympathetic to that. I had a bunch of friends who lost their homes that were completely devastated. When we started making the video, I was talking about a cause we could shed some light on because it’s such a hopeful song. I felt we could attach it to a certain cause, and maybe do it a lot of good,” he said.
The record is Allan’s first single in a while, and he’s glad to be back at radio. “It’s been a couple of years since we had a single out. I had some label issues, and all of that got sorted out. It’s great to be accepted at radio again. It’s actually the fastest song we’ve ever had.”
“Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain)” is the lead-off track from his new album, which is scheduled to be released early in 2013. He says that he used a different approach to record the album. “I think it’s going to be different, and one of the reasons for that is that I’ve used some new producers. I’ve always done everything with Mark Wright, and this time, I’ve done four with him, four with Jay Joyce, and I produced four with my road band — including the single.”
When asked his thoughts on producing, he laughed and said “I guess the pressure of just doing it bothered me, but I’ve done all my demos and pre-production in my house anyway, so I’m very comfortable in my role. So, it wasn’t a big deal, but I think the idea of me saying ‘Ok, I’m going to do it all’ freaked me out a little.”
Allan also remarked that he loved working in the studio with Joyce, who produced both the CMA Single (Little Big Town’s “Pontoon”) and Album of the Year (Eric Church’s ‘Chief’). “What a trip to work with him,” he said. “I’ve never worked like that. We worked in his house, in his basement. At first, it felt like I was making a record with some college kids without any money. I was very scared the first day, because I spent so much time separating sounds, and making sure things didn’t bleed. I felt like we were in the middle of his basement, and all of the sounds were bleeding into everything, and he didn’t seem to care. So, at first I was panicked, but by the second day, I drank the punch. I really liked what I got with him.”