Brantley Gilbert Makes Music That’s Close To Him

One of the many unknown truths about Nashville is that pretty much anyone in town is a songwriter. Many people who move to Music City do so to tell their own stories through the ways of music and Brantley Gilbert is just one of the many.

For Gilbert, music is all about the real-life connection he makes to each tune. He purely depends on the personal tie to each song, revealing that he only records tracks he’s put his own words to.

“Songs that I cut, first of all I have to be a writer on it, I have to have at least co-written it,” he explained recently. “That could just be a personal thing, but I just feel closer when I have the opportunity to know it’s my story and it reflects something I’ve been through in my life.”

The emotional content of the song is another huge aspect of what Gilbert will or will not cut. He relies on the feelings of a track over any sort of beat or melody.

“It’s really all got to come together to evoke that emotion,” he said. “If I’m angry, I want you to feel it and hear it, and just if I’m sad, it’s a different set of chords, a different melody structure. When it all comes together, when you hear a song and it really just hits you in the chest, whether it’s in a good way or a bad way, those are the ones I gravitate towards.”

In the end, Gilbert just looks for one important factor: keeping it real.

“Everything I make I try to do as authentic as possible, and if my lyrics don’t do that for you, if they don’t paint that picture, if they don’t get you that object, well more than likely that’s not a song that needs to go on the record.”