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Recent Press:
10-19-2005: BMI Honors Songwriter of the year
http://www.bmi.com/news/200510/20051019a.asp
03-14-2005: It's An 'Awful, Beautiful Life' at the Top
for Harley Allen
http://www.bmi.com/news/200503/20050314b.asp
02-23-2004: Grammy renews interest in Louvins.
http://www.cmt.com/artists/news/1485260/02232004/vincent_rhonda.jhtml
12-09-2003: "Tough Little Boys" grabs #1 Spot.
http://www.bmi.com/news/200312/20031209a.asp
11-10-2003: Toasting "Tough Little Boys"
http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1480434/11142003/williams_jr_hank.jhtml
04-21-2003: "The Baby" arrives at #1.
http://bmi.com/news/200304/20030421b.asp
11-07-2001: 2001 BMI Country Award Winners
http://www.tennessean.com/entertainment/news/archives/01/11/10337552.shtml
01-16-2001: "The Little Girl" is the guest of honor.
http://www.bmi.com/news/200101/20010116a.asp
12-01-2000: Harley Allen is on the scene.
http://bmi.com/musicworld/onthescene/200012/hallen.asp
11-08-2000: Number One Success of "The Little Girl"
http://launch.yahoo.com/read/news.asp?contentID=170751
"O' Brother Where Art Thou?"
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2001-07-09-country-usat.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2001-03-09-o-brother.htm
Related links:
http://www.twochordjones.com/reddisc.asp
http://imusic.artistdirect.com/showcase/country/harleyallen.html
http://countrymusic.about.com/library/blbrandnewmerev.htm?iam=dpile&terms=Harley+Allen
PRESS
USA Today - Sept. 7, 2000
Country’s ‘Little Girl’ sending fans to hankie
heaven
An old-fashioned tearjerker based on an Internet fable is shaping
up to be one of the year’s biggest country hits. In John
Michael Montgomery’s The Little Girl, an orphaned girl
sees a Sunday school picture of Jesus and identifies him as
the man who comforted her the night her father killed her mother
and himself.
Nashville songwriter Harley Allen penned the tune after reading
an email forwarded by his brother. "It moved me more than
I’d been moved in years by a story," Allen says. "I
grabbed the guitar and just started writing. It didn’t
take anytime at all, about 10 or 15 minutes."
Allen says he and his brother have tried to track the tale’s
source, without any luck. It’s posted on dozens of web
sites – usually with a title such as Held By Jesus or And
The Little Child Shall Lead Them with no attribution. "We
don’t have a clue" about its origin, Allen says, "but
if it ain’t true, it ought to be."
Though the song has its origins in modern technology, it revives
an old style. Such sentimental vignettes have been a country
music staple for decades, perhaps most popularly by the late
Red Sovine, who recorded such recitative weepers as Teddy Bear
and Giddyup Go. "I love that stuff," Allen says. "You
just don’t hear it anymore."
BILLBOARD - August 26, 2000
Country Corner: Believe The Children
Taking the biggest airplay increase and the highest jump on
the chart, John Michael Montgomery’s "The Little Girl"
(Atlantic) gains a breathtaking 665 detections to vault 65-39
on Hot Country Singles and Tracks.
The quantum leap is a direct result of the instantaneous emotional
response the song evokes for programmers after hearing the story
of an abused child whose alcoholic father shoots her drug addicted
mother to death, then turns the gun on himself as the youngster
looks on. Not just an everyday country tragedy ballad, "The
Little Girl" delivers the knockout punch late in the story
when the newly adopted child, who sees a picture of Jesus Christ
for the first time in her life, declares that Jesus was the
man who held her in his arms as she watched her parents die.
Songwriter Harley Allen wrote the song in ten minutes after
reading the story on the Internet. Montgomery’s recording
noted for it’s understated production and lack of lyrical
embellishment is already in heavy rotation.
THE TENNESSEAN - October 15, 2000
‘Little Girl’ leaves a lasting impression
The story of The Little Girl has already proven it’s universal
appeal long before anyone heard John Michael Montgomery sing
the song on the radio. It was an underground hit on the Internet,
where songwriter Harley Allen found it five or six years ago.
"My brother sent it to me in an email," Allen recalled.
"I tried to trace where it came from, but I could never
find out whether it was true or a legend.
The original story was only two or three short paragraphs, Allen
said. "It had the three basic things the druggie parents
who were unreligious and didn’t believe in God, the daddy
who killed himself and the mother, and it had the ending. "I
had to fill in a lot of the details like the little girl hiding
behind the couch. That wasn’t in the email, but I thought
it was something a little girl would do. It all just fell out
of me pretty quick," Allen added. "I was very inspired."
In its new form as a song, The Little Girl continues to have
a powerful effect. "It’s moved and touched people
in a good way," Allen said, "and that’s real
important today in country music. And it’s crossing over
into pop now."
Allen himself has made a successful crossover, from bluegrass
to country music. The son of Red Allen, who made his mark as
a lead singer and also the baritone singer with The Osbourne
Brothers, Harley first gained notice as a musician and singer,
making his recording debut with his father and brothers on Allen
Grass in 1970. Through the 1970’s, 80’s and into 1990,
he recorded a number of albums with his family members, plus
two solo efforts and a duet project with Mike Lily. His bluegrass
recording credits also include albums with David Grisman and
the Big Dogs with Tony Trischka.
Allen had noticed early on that his father wrote a lot of his
own songs, and he began to make a name for himself as a songwriter
with cuts by Linda Ronstadt and The Trio (Ronstadt, Dolly Parton
and Emmylou Harris). He moved to Nashville from his hometown
of Dayton, Ohio and his cut list grew to include Garth Brooks,
Don Williams, Sammy Kershaw, Tracy Byrd, Hal Ketchum, Alison
Krauss and Rhonda Vincent. His songs hit home with Alan Jackson,
who has recorded five Harley Allen tunes, including the 1996
hit Everything I Love and the 1998 No.1 single Between the Devil
and Me. In the meantime, people on Music Row noticed that Allen’s
songs sounded just as good when Allen was singing them, and
he made his debut as a country artist in 1996 with Another River
on the Mercury label. Allen has recent cuts Mark Wills and Gary
Allen, plus upcoming releases from George Jones and Alan Jackson.
COUNTRY STANDARD TIME
No matter what kind of country you prefer, you've probably heard
some of Harley Allen's songs; his material has been recorded
by acts ranging from bluegrass' Petticoat Junction and IIIrd
Tyme Out to mega-stars like Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson.
With this, Allen becomes the latest bluegrasser to make the
move to country, and he's done an outstanding job. Don't expect
banjos and a high lonesome sound; though Allen has a high tenor
capable of bending a note inside out.
Here, he plays it straight, and with musical backup to match;
it's thoroughly modern, but thoroughly intelligent country.
The material is strong - no surprise there - and is delivered
in a polished yet emotional style, with Rhonda Vincent's harmony
vocals providing an extra measure of soul.
Both the songs and the arrangements carry strong echoes of sources
as diverse as The Beatles, Waylon Jennings and Allen's father,
bluegrass legend Red Allen. Enduring country music has always
lived along the border between innovation and tradition; that
territory's been home to Harley Allen for over 20 years, and
now, at long last, he's getting the chance to show us around.
Don't miss the ride. - Jon Weisberger
MUSIC ROW
Some people learn country music down at the shopping mall, or
listening to the radio. Not this boy. Harley Allen didn’t
learn country music, he is country music. The boy is a blue
blood. - Robert K. Oermann
Having loved Harley Allen songs that other artists have recorded,
like "Who I Am" and "The Angels Cried,"
it’s great to hear his voice sing his own material. He
has been something of a cult figure in bluegrass for a while
and country fans finally will get to see what all the fuss is
about. I’ve probably played his "Between the Devil
and Me" more than any other song during the past few months.
I’ll expect to see Harley Allen’s name next year when
they announce song of the year nominations. - Brian Mansfield
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
In his transition from bluegrass to country, Harley Allen, the
son of grass great, Red Allen, matches the emotional intensity
of the former with the storytelling earthiness of the latter.
His plaintive and honest hillbilly delivery goes straight to
the heart, but it’s as a songwriter that he really shines,
capturing the sweetness of a middle-aged marriage ("Old
Love Dreamin’") and a cuckolded husband’s silent
shame ("Behind The Plow"). -Alanna Nash
BILLBOARD MAGAZINE
Harley Allen does not write about trucks. Harley Allen does
not write about dogs. Harley Allen does not write about convertibles.
Harley Allen does not write about rubber duckies. (Thank god.)
Harley Allen writes about the devil. Harley Allen writes about
a girl standing on the shore of Savannah, GA., looking out to
sea and yearning for her lost sailor love. Harley Allen writes
about faded Southern memories. (Thank God.) And he sings well,
too. The song about the devil, "Between The Devil And Me,"
is worth the price of admission alone. Allen wades through demons
like a modern day Hank Williams, accompanied by a chiming steel
guitar that evokes the chilling sound of the devil himself.
A very auspicious debut.
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