Living Hard is the seventh studio album by American country music singer Gary Allan. It was released on October 23, 2007 via MCA Nashville.

The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling approximately 69,000 copies during its first week. Its lead-off single, "Watching Airplanes", reached number 2 on the country charts, its second single "Learning How to Bend" peaked at number 13, and the third single "She's So California" went to number 24. "Like It's a Bad Thing" was later recorded by Danny Gokey on his 2010 debut album My Best Days. "Half of My Mistakes" was written by Bobby Houck and Radney Foster and originally recorded by Houck's band, the Blue Dogs, on their 2004 album, Halos and Good Buys, then by Foster on his 2004 album And Then There's Me (The Back Porch Sessions), and finally by Jace Everett on his 2005 self-titled debut album.

Track listing

Personnel

From Living Hard liner notes.

Musicians and vocalists

• Gary Allan – vocals

• Steve Nathan – acoustic piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, Hammond B3 organ

• Kenny Greenberg – electric guitars

• Russ Pahl – acoustic guitars, steel guitar

• Brent Rowan – electric guitars

• John Willis – acoustic guitars, mandolin

• Jaime Hanna – electric guitar (3), backing vocals (3)

• Robby Turner – steel guitar

• Dan Dugmore – steel guitar (3)

• Michael Rhodes – bass

• Glenn Worf – bass

• Chad Cromwell – drums

• Eric Darken – percussion

• Hank Singer – fiddle

• The Love Sponge Strings – strings (1, 5)

• Kristin Wilkinson – string arrangements (1, 5)

• Stephen Lamb – copyist (1, 5)

• Perry Coleman – backing vocals (1)

• Wes Hightower – backing vocals

• Russell Terrell – backing vocals

• Jon Randall – backing vocals (3)

• Jerry Flowers – backing vocals (7)

Production

• Gary Allan – producer

• Mark Wright – producer

• Greg Droman – recording, mixing

• Steve Beers – recording assistant

• Leslie Richter – recording assistant

• Ben Terry – recording assistant

• Daewoo Kim – additional recording assistant

• Bobby Shin – additional recording assistant

• Hank Williams – mastering at MasterMix (Nashville, Tennessee)

• Carie Higdon – project coordinator

• Craig Allen – art direction, design

• Tony Baker – photography

• Renee Layher – wardrobe stylist

• Katinka Selesnick – hair, make-up

• John Lytle – management

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References