Country Star BRANTLEY GILBERT Reveals How He and His Music Have Grown Through the Years

At only 30 years old, the Country superstar, Brantley Gilbert has done a lot of living. In the three albums he’s released, there have been a combined six chart entries on the Hot Country Songs charts, of which three have gone to number 1.

Learn more about Brantley in the following interview:

How do you think being born and raised in the small town of Jefferson, Georgia, has influenced you as a musician? And how has it influenced your music?

I was born and raised in Jefferson, Georgia. It has everything to do with my music. It has everything to do with who I am. I write all my songs. They are all stories and events that have happened in my life that I have been close to. You know I moved to Nashville for a year and there is nothing wrong with Nashville at all. But, I’m a Georgia boy and decided I needed to be around the people and places that I started writing about. So, you know I moved home and you know it’s just the people and the places and that things that have happened to me at home…all the good times and the hard times. It has everything to do with who I am. That has everything to do with my music.   

You’ve released three studio albums: Modern Day Prodigal Son, Halfway To Heaven and most recently, Just As I Am. How do you think you have grown and changed between each album?

All my records are chapters of my life. All the songs tell their own story and they all fit in to the story in their own form, way, or fashion. I definitely think through the albums I have grown as a songwriter. But I have always done my best to tell the truth and not be too complex or too cute about it. Just tell the truth and tell the story. Just talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I think I have accomplished that on these three records. The fourth one will just pick up on where these three left off.

QWhat are your favorite songs to perform?

My favorite songs to perform… it depends. Our shows are a rollercoaster ride. It’s wide open one minute and the next we are singing some heartfelt stuff. A couple of my favorites…“Kick It In The Sticks” is definitely a live show favorite as well as “Read Me My Rights” and “Take It Outside”. There is just a lot of adrenaline in those songs and a lot of testosterone too, but a lot of adrenaline. But you know when it comes to songs like “One Hell of an Amen” or “Modern Day Prodigal Son” those are the songs that punch me in the chest. It’s important for me that those songs are heard too. There is an important message there and hopefully something that someone can take away from it.  

I have read that your shows are quite the workout for you! For someone like me who has yet to see you in action, can you describe what can be expected at your concerts?

For someone who hasn’t seen us or hasn’t been to a show you can expect it to be wide open and we come out of the gate with all guns blazing and put them back in the holster the same way. We try to put on the same show whether it is 10 people or 10,000. If its jam packed there is a lot of energy there, but like I said it’s a rollercoaster ride. One minute we will be jamming out and melting faces and the next minute we are kind of laid back and chillin’ singing about a break up or love song. You never know what’s next, which keeps it fun for me and hopefully fun for the audience too.

Living or dead, who would you love to work with and why?

Livin’ or dead who would you like to work with…I was always a huge Vern Gosdin fan, a huge George Jones fan, and huge Hank Williams fan. Lynrd Skynard is definitely somebody I would love to work with living or dead. They are one of my biggest influences, but there are so many of these it is hard for me to put my finger on a few.

At this point, what do you think is your biggest accomplishment and what do you have your eyes set on next?

At this point my biggest accomplishment…my goal in the music business was to sell out the Georgia Theatre. We did that when I was in my early twenties. Everything since then has been a bonus. We are making new goals each day. Now that it’s a new year rolling around we have some things that we want to do this year. Everything when it comes to my career there are steps to take to get to a certain goal, but I like to make my goals daily. It keeps me engaged. I don’t do too well with time off. I always got to be doing something. Daily goals are great. Long term goals…I have learned a lot on the road, especially touring with some of the guys that I have, Toby Keith and Tim McGraw, guys like that. You see guys in their crew that have worked for them for 20 years that still talk good about them. I think that might be one of my biggest long term goals is that anybody that works for me or with me from my crew to my band. I hope that they can look back when the dust settles and say that dude did right by me.