Brantley Gilbert just released his brand new single, “Hard Days,” which is about “finding and acknowledging hope in the midst of turmoil and taking the good with the bad,” according to Brantley. The song was written by Brock Berryhill, Logan Wall, Jimi Bell and Jay Brunswick, who then invited Brantley to work with them on it. The story of how the song got written is as special to Brantley as the song is. He explains, “It actually started, Logan Wall got a call – he and Jimmy sand Jay and Brock had scheduled a write for the next day, and he got a call the night before from his mom, saying that she was going into surgery. She hadn’t told him anything before that night. She had to go into surgery, for something that was cancer related. And, of course, it being his mom, just floored him, but he still went to the write anyway.”
At first the group was trying to write a completely different song, but when it wasn’t coming together, Logan shared the title and melody and the emotions the experience with his mom had inspired. Brantley goes onto explain, “Same day, same writin’ appointment, Jay Brunswick got a call from a family member lettin’ him know that another family member had passed away. It’s like lightning striking the same place twice. And you know, he came back in the room and said, ‘Guys, we’ve gotta write this song written. It’s gotta be written.’”
Brock who was one of the other writers on “Hard Days,” also had some things going on in his life that made the concept of the song relatable to him. Brantley says that day, “It just felt like a song that needed to be written, and to me, it’s a God thing,” and he’s hopeful that the song will be helpful and hopeful for other people who hear it, who may be going through “Hard Days.”
Brantley Gilbert – origins of Hard Days 1:08
“It actually started, Logan Wall got a call – he and Jimmy sand Jay and Brock had scheduled a write for the next day, and he got a call the night before from his mom, saying that she was going into surgery. She hadn’t told him anything before that night. She had to go into surgery, for something that was cancer related. And, of course, it being his mom, just floored him, but he still went to the write anyway, and they were trying to write a rocker. They were trying to write something up tempo, and they were just having trouble gettin’ on something. And of course, with that, it wasn’t even in the back of his mind. It’s his mom, so it’s gonna be in the front of his mind. And he had, you know, that title and kind of a melody in mind, and he felt like, you know, it needed to come off his heart and come off his chest, so he put the idea on the table. And same day, same writin’ appointment, Jay Brunswick got a call from a family member lettin’ him know that another family member had passed away. It’s like lightning striking the same place twice. And you know, he came back in the room and said, ‘Guys, we’ve gotta write this song written. It’s gotta be written.’ And Brock had some things going on as well. It just felt like a song that needed to be written, and to me, it’s a God thing.”