Brantley Gilbert (born January 20, 1985 in Jefferson, Georgia) is an American country rock music singer-songwriter. After having modest commercial success in 2009 and 2010 with a pair of albums released on Average Joes Entertainment, Gilbert was picked up by juggernaut Big Machine Records, who re-released the second Average Joes album. The re-release earned a platinum certification on the heels of its pair of lead singles, "Country Must Be Country Wide" and "You Don't Know Her Like I Do". Two more albums have followed on Big Machine: 2014's Just as I Am produced his biggest hit to date in "Bottoms Up", along with the Massive Multiplayer Crossover "Small Town Throwdown" (featuring labelmates Thomas Rhett and Justin Moore), and "One Hell of an Amen". 2017 saw the release of The Devil Don't Sleep.
Gilbert is known for his hard rock-influenced brand of country, which combined with his rural partying themed lyrics, has caused some of his material to fall under the label of "bro-country". His catalog also includes several impassioned ballads such as "More Than Miles" and "One Hell of an Amen".
Albums
- Modern Day Prodigal Son (2009)
- Halfway to Heaven (2010, re-released 2011)
- Just as I Am (2014)
- The Devil Don't Sleep (2017)
- Fire & Brimstone (2019)
Tropes present:
- Always Someone Better: Jason Aldean is this to Brantley, having turned two of Brantley's failed singles into massive hits.
- Country Rap: He did co-write "Dirt Road Anthem" with Colt Ford.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The difference in style between his first album and his second, let alone anything he's done since, is jarring. For one, it's missing the deep gravel that he's become known for, with a more traditional male country artist sound. For another, half the album is acoustic ballads. It's hard to imagine him releasing something like "Whenever We're Alone" today.
- Fake-Out Fade-Out: "You Don't Know Her Like I Do" seems to end, then launches into a minute-long coda (which is removed from the radio edit).
- Heavy Meta:
- "Country Must Be Country Wide" is about breaking down stereotypes.
- "The Worst Country Song of All Time", featuring Toby Keith and HARDY, drops Blatant Lies about the genre's archetypes to declare itself the "worst" country song.
- In Vino Veritas: "Stone Cold Sober," in which he tells a woman he loves her, wakes up hungover...and realizes simultaneously that he meant it and she's not there, meaning she probably didn't believe him.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: "Small Town Throwdown" has Thomas Rhett and Justin Moore, both of whom are labelmates.
- "Not So Different" Remark: The theme of "Country Must Be Country Wide" is that the country fanbase is not entirely limited to the South.
- Re-release the Song: He originally released "Kick It in the Sticks" in 2010 on Average Joes, and Big Machine re-released it two years later.
- Rhyming with Itself: The chorus of "Bottoms Up" rhymes "up" with "up".
- Shout-Out:
- "Country Music Be Country Wide" name drops a bunch of classic country singers like Chris LeDoux, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings.
- "My Baby's Guns N' Roses" is chock-full of shout-outs to...well, guess.
- Symbolic Baptism: "Three Feet of Water" is a baptism-themed song. Co-writer Cledus T. Judd wrote it about his own real-life baptism.
