Gary Allan is gearing up for a brand new year on the road as the headliner of the upcoming Country Throwdown tour, and the hitmaker says he's excited to hang with tourmates Rodney Atkins, Josh Thompson, Justin Moore, Sunny Sweeney, and Eric Paslay, and also to bring some fresh music to the fans after a bit of time away from the spotlight. The 'Watching Airplanes' singer reports he's been hard at work in the studio on his latest project, working alongside a new collaborator.

"I've recorded about a fourth of my new album, so we're in the middle of working on it now and I go in and track it at the end of this month with Jay Joyce -- that'll be something new," Gary told The Boot Monday (Feb. 27) at a press event at his posh Nashville clothing store, The Label.

Jay Joyce has produced artists ranging from Patty Griffin and Emmylou Harris to Eric Church and Cage the Elephant. He's also an in-demand session musician who can be heard on the latest albums by Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert and Pistol Annies, among others. His latest project with Gary is expected to come out later this year.

Gary has been adding some of the new material into his sets in recent months to see how fans respond, and says he's changed up his show a bit this year as he heads into the Country Throwdown tour.

"I just revamped my whole show, so there will be some new things there," he hints. "I've got a new guitar player, and I changed the set list so I have new songs in my set now. I'm also playing songs that I haven't even recorded yet that will probably be recorded this month, but I've started playing them in shows just to test them out with audiences."

Being the senior artist on the Throwdown tour, Gary says he's pumped to be leading a tour with this kind of energy and vibe, and looks forward to the chance to mix it up night after night onstage with his new group of travel buddies.

"We play all the time," he says. "I don't think we've ever come off the road, it's just whether we headline or not, or it's an actual tour. But it's super exciting to get out there with a whole bunch of people, and when we're headlining I get to set the tone for it, so it'll be a party vibe!"

The 2012 Country Throwdown Tour kicks off on May 18 and runs through July 8. Get tickets and a full list of tour dates and cities here.


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