Gary Allan's Springfield Surprise

Gary Allan photo courtesy of Universal Music Group Nashville.

May 23, 2008 — It’s a rainy night in Virginia, you walk into a bar and you see some guy that looks a lot like Gary Allan on stage doing an ‘80s pop-rock classic. You haven’t even had a beer yet, but wonder if you’re seeing things?

If that were the case a month or so ago, then you might indeed have seen a major country star singing for free in that local bar. Gary had an unexpected night off when the rain wiped out an outdoor concert, so he and his band found their way to a club and did a version of Rick Springfield’s 1981 hit "Jessie’s Girl."

"We ended up taking over that bar," Gary told The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Gary knows a thing or two about playing small joints. He started out on the club circuit in Southern California as a teenager, where he played for audiences that included both country listeners and punk fans, and that’s had a big role in shaping him as an artist.

But now he’s playing larger venues — in fact, a number of stadiums are on his itinerary this year as he joins Kenny Chesney’s multi-act Poets & Pirates Tour. Because there are so many stars on the bill and so many fans at a distance in the seats, it becomes harder to get noticed.

"The bigger the stage, the more people, the more transparent you are," he said.

One of those mega-shows takes place Saturday at Cleveland Browns Stadium. In addition to Kenny and Gary, the bill also features Keith Urban, LeAnn Rimes and Sammy Hagar. Don’t expect it to get rained out, but if it does, you might look for Gary at a nearby bar.