Brantley Gilbert wrote or co-wrote every song on his new album, Just As I Am, which is being released on Monday (the 19th), and he says it had to be that way. “I have to write ‘em. I’m selfish. If I’m tellin’ my story it’s kinda gotta be about me.” Brantley says anybody who writes with him knows he’s going to steer the songs toward something he can relate to because he says, “That’s the only time I’m really effective as a writer, is if I’m tellin’ the truth.”
Brantley narrowed 250 songs down to the 11 he chose to record for his new album, and while some of the songs on the new album are deeply personal and would seem hard to sing night after night, Brantley says, “If it’s about somethin’ that punched me in the heart when it happened, I want the song to punch me in the heart. I want every time I sing the song I want to relive the situation. You learn more about it every time. It may sound like you’re puttin’ yourself through hell but eventually you sing it enough times you remember the situation, you remember what you learned from it, you remember how small it is in the grand scheme of things.”
Fortunately, Brantley’s new single, “Small Town Throwdown,” is more of a fun party song and not a gut puncher, and it features his good buddies Justin Moore and Thomas Rhett singing with him.
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Brantley Gilbert – writing every song on album :17
“I have to write ‘em. I’m selfish. If I’m tellin’ my story it’s kinda gotta be about me. Most of my co-writers know I’m selfish. They know I’m gonna pull it towards somethin’ I can relate to, and I think that’s the only time I’m really effective as a writer, is if I’m tellin’ the truth.”
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Brantley Gilbert – how chose from 250 to 11 :25
“The ones that best tell the story and sound the best doin’ it. When it’s somethin’ serious and if it’s about somethin’ that punched me in the heart when it happened, I want the song to punch me in the heart. I want every time I sing the song I want to relive the situation. You learn more about it every time. It may sound like you’re puttin’ yourself through hell but eventually you sing it enough times you remember the situation, you remember what you learned from it, you remember how small it is in the grand scheme of things.”