This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Gary Allan, on the road with his new album "Ruthless," is coming back to Floore's Country Store.

Country music star Gary Allan will perform at Floore's Country Store as part of his "Ruthless" tour.

There are some places that country music star Gary Allan always looks forward to playing, and Floore's Country Store is one of them.

"It’s a lot like playing in somebody's backyard, a slamming backyard where (you know) everybody in the whole neighborhood and then some," said Allan, who has played the legendary Helotes dance hall every year for about 25 years. "It’s always really packed, and there’s so much history there."

Allan, whose hits include "Nothing On But the Radio" and "Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)," will be back at Floore's Saturday night. The show is part of his tour in support of "Ruthless," his first album in more than eight years. The album is his last for UMG Nashville, his longtime label. He announced on social media in July that they had parted company and promised more news soon.

During the break between albums, Allan said, he kept recording, amassing a lot of material.

"Every time I turned something in, the label didn't feel they could put it on the radio," he said. "So we pushed back and tried different things, and so it's a whole bunch of projects all pushed into one. Which kind of makes it fun because it makes it stronger."

On ExpressNews.com: SA Stock Show & Rodeo's 2023 concert lineup includes Keith Urban, Carly Pearce

Where: Floore's Country Store, 14492 Old Bandera Road, Helotes

When: Doors open at 7 p.m. Saturday. Jack Ingram opens at 8:30, and takes the stage at 10.

Tickets: $35 general admission in advance and $40 on Saturday; VIP tickets $125-$175 per person for tables of four, liveatfloores.com.

To figure out the order of the songs on album, Allan did what he usually does: He wrote the titles on torn pieces of paper towel, left them on a counter in his home and kept rearranging them. He also listened to a CD of the songs over and over again.

"Some things get stronger the more that you hear them, and some songs you get sick of pretty quick, and I try to get those off there," he said. "I learned a long time ago, if I don't love it, it all stops there."

Miss Patsy Cline, the ridiculously adorable black-and-white dog he adopted earlier this year, is joining Allan on some of the tour dates. His dog Lucy, a Goldendoodle who died last year, also often accompanied him on the road.

"It makes your bus feel a little homey," he said, adding that Miss Patsy Cline is "a super-cuddly dog, and when you get tired of petting her, she just moves on to the next person."

The "Ruthless" tour marks Allan's return to live performances after the pandemic forced him to take a break. He and his girlfriend, Molly Martin, spent the shutdown period early on holed up in his house, then they joined a friend in the Dominican Republic.

"He had a 100-foot yacht and he was towing a 30-foot fishing boat, and we just went and lived on a boat and caught fish and stayed away from everybody," he said. "It was bucket-list stuff."

Martin is now his fiancée. He posted photos of the proposal to Instagram in December.

On ExpressNews.com: Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias is returning to San Antonio

"We don’t have a date yet," he said. "I think we’re just going to elope. I think we’re going to  pick a vacation spot that we love, and just go get married."

The images he posted included a shot of the ring, a stunner with a pear-shaped diamond that he designed himself. He and his daughter have a custom jewelry business, and they do a lot of engagement rings. They also sell pieces that reference Allan's music, including pendants depicting a cowboy skeleton atop a bucking skeleton bronco, the cover image for "Ruthless."

"I think I’ve always kind of wanted to be a jeweler," he said. "I had a time when I was off for a year — I was renegotiating with my record label, so I couldn't really do anything. I went to a stone-setting school and to jewelry school. I learned how to cast silver and gold. And so we do everything in house.

"It's something I like to do at night. I still feel creative, and it gets me not doing music."

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN