On Monday (Feb. 17), Gary Allan held a special press conference from his Nashville clothing store the Label, where he discussed the exciting year ahead -- including his headlining spot on the 2012 Country Throwdown Tour. Sitting by Allan's side during the press meeting were Country Throwdown Tour creators Sarah Baer and Kevin Lyman of 4Fini's.

The 2012 lineup will also feature Josh Thompson, Sunny Sweeney, Justin Moore, Rodney Atkins, Eric Paslay and Florida Georgia Line on the two main stages. Others are scheduled to appear on the Bluebird Cafe stage throughout the festival, and Allan is looking forward to getting to know them all outside of their music at country radio.

"I don't know much about any of them," Allan tells Taste of Country. "It will be fun to get out there and get to know everybody. I think it's [going to be] killer ... I think the whole concept is killer."

While Allan has been laying low as far as new music in the past couple of years, he certainly has been no stranger to touring. His last headlining tour came in 2009 with his Get Off on the Pain Tour, so the singer is looking forward to getting back into a headlining role once again.

"I don't think we've ever come off the road; I think it's just whether we're headlining or not or if it's an actual tour," says Allan. "That's all going to stay the same, but I'm super excited to get out there with a whole bunch of people. It's always fun. And when we're headlining, I sort of get to set the tone for it, so it will be a good party atmosphere.

"[I want the tone] to be for everybody to have fun and not to be uptight," he continues. "I've been on some super uptight tours, and I've been on some tours that are super laid back and everybody's having a good time. I think that should be the feel of it. My career is super laid back and accommodating, so we'll try to bring everybody together and have fun."

The tour is set to kick off on May 18 in Gulfport, Miss., and will run into the first part of July, hitting roughly 20 cities coast-to-coast. Click here for a complete list of dates where the tour will be stopping along the way.

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