Brantley Gilbert Biography

Brantley Keith Gilbert (born January 20, 1985) is an American country rock artist from Jefferson, Georgia. He was originally signed to Colt Ford's label, Average Joe's Entertainment, where he released Modern Day Prodigal Son, and Halfway to Heaven. He is now signed to Big Machine Records' Valory division, for whom he has released two albums—a deluxe edition of Halfway to Heaven and Just As I Am. These albums have produced a combined six chart entries on the Hot Country Songs charts, of which three have gone to number 1. Gilbert also co-wrote Jason Aldean's singles "My Kinda Party" and "Dirt Road Anthem".

Career

Singing career

Brantley Gilbert originally moved to Nashville as a songwriter, signed to Warner Chappell Publishing. He continued performing at local venues. In 2009, Gilbert released his debut album, Modern Day Prodigal Son, under independent label Average Joes Entertainment.Gilbert followed his debut with the second project, Halfway to Heaven, on March 16, 2010.

In February 2011, Gilbert signed with Valory Music Co., a division of Big Machine Records, who re-released Halfway to Heaven with new recordings and bonus tracks. The album was produced by Dann Huff. Its first two singles, "Country Must Be Country Wide" and "You Don't Know Her Like I Do", both went to number 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. After it, "Kick It in the Sticks" peaked at number 34, and "More Than Miles" at number 7 on Country Airplay. He won the ACM New Male Artist award in 2013.

Gilbert's second Valory album, Just as I Am, was released on May 19, 2014. Its lead single is "Bottoms Up", which has also reached number 1. The second single is "Small Town Throwdown", which features guest vocals from labelmates Thomas Rhett and Justin Moore. The third single is "One Hell of an Amen".

Tours

• 2011
  • Willie Nelson"?s Country Throwdown Tour
  • Taste of Country Christmas Tour

• 2012
  • Eric Church"?s Blood, Sweat and Beers Tour
  • Toby Keith"?s Live in Overdrive Tour
  • Hell on Wheels (headline)

• 2013
  • Tim McGraw"?s Two Lanes of Freedom Tour

• 2014
  • Let It Ride (1st leg with Thomas Rhett, Eric Paslay and Brian Davis)
  • Let It Ride (2nd leg with Brian Davis, Chase Bryant, Aaron Lewis and Tyler Farr; Lewis and Farr split dates)

Songwriting

In addition to his original work, Gilbert has written songs that Colt Ford and Jason Aldean have recorded. The songs "Dirt Road Anthem" (co-written and originally recorded by himself and Colt Ford) and "My Kinda Party", were released on Aldean's 2010 album My Kinda Party. "My Kinda Party" was originally released by Gilbert on Modern Day Prodigal Son, while "Dirt Road Anthem" was later released on Halfway to Heaven. Aldean has also covered Gilbert's "The Best of Me," available on the Wal-Mart exclusive and iTunes release of his 2009 album Wide Open.

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions					Certifications (sales threshold)	Sales
		US Country	US	US Heat	US Indie	CAN
Modern Day Prodigal Son	Release date: October 27, 2009 Label: Average Joe's Formats: CD, music download	58	38	44	"?	"?
Halfway to Heaven	Release date: March 16, 2010 Label: Average Joe's, Valory Music Co. (re-issue) Formats: CD, music download	2	4	1	13	"?	US: Platinum	US: 1,016,000
Just as I Am	Release date: May 19, 2014 Label: Valory Music Co. Formats: CD, music download	1	2	"?	"?	8	US: Gold	US: 640,100
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions					Certifications	Sales	Album
		US Hot Country	US Country Airplay	US	CAN Country	CAN
2010	"Kick It in the Sticks"	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?			Halfway to Heaven
	"My Kind of Crazy"	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?
2011	"Them Boys"	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?
	"Country Must Be Country Wide"	1	"?	50	"?	91	US: Platinum	US: 1,000,000
	"You Don't Know Her Like I Do"	1	"?	49	"?	73	US: Platinum	US: 999,000
2012	"Kick It in the Sticks" A	29	34	113	"?	"?	US: Gold
	"More Than Miles"	21	7	73	33	"?
2013	"Bottoms Up"	1	1	20	3	41	US: Platinum	US: 1,510,000	Just as I Am
2014	"Small Town Throwdown"	13	8	67	24	97		US: 417,000
	"One Hell of an Amen"B		50
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

• ^A Did not enter the Hot 100 but charted on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles.
• ^B Current single.

Other charted songs

Year	Single	Peak chart positions			Album
		US Hot Country	US	CAN
2014	"My Baby's Guns N' Roses"	18	87	88	Just as I Am
	"17 Again"	19	90	95
	"If You Want a Bad Boy"	47	"?	"?
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
2010	"Kick It in the Sticks"	Potsy Ponciroli
	"My Kind of Crazy"	Mason Dixon
2011	"Country Must Be Country Wide"	Shane Drake
	"You Don't Know Her Like I Do"	Justin Key
2012	"More Than Miles"	Shane Drake
2013	"Bottoms Up"
2014	"Small Town Throwdown" (featuring Justin Moore and Thomas Rhett)

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Result
2011	CMA Awards	Song of the Year ("Dirt Road Anthem")
2012	ACM Awards	USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year ("Country Must Be Country Wide"?)
2012	ACAs	Breakthrough Artist Single of the Year ("You Don"?t Know Her Like I Do"?)
2012	CMA Awards	New Artist of the Year
2013	CRS	New Faces
2013	CMA Awards	CMA Triple Play Award - "Country Must Be Country Wide,"? " You Don"?t Know Her Like I Do"? & "Dirt Road Anthem"?
2013	ACM Awards	Top New Male Artist

Personal life

It was announced in September 2012 that Gilbert was dating country music singer and actress Jana Kramer. They had kept their relationship quiet for about eight months before the announcement. The couple got engaged on January 20, 2013, which was also his 28th birthday. They split in August 2013. In October 2014, Gilbert publicly announced that he was engaged to a woman he chose not to name, saying only that she lived near his home and he had known her for about ten years. He is currently engaged to Georgia school teacher Amber Cochran.

Brantley Gilbert was in a near-fatal truck accident when he was only 19. Gilbert was a special-needs counselor at Friendship Elementary in Gainesville,Georgia.