Gabby Barrett Says Daughter Baylah May Loves Life on the Road

Over the last three years, Gabby Barrett has quickly gone from American Idol dreamer to one of the brightest new stars in country music. But if you ask her, the young hit maker’s favorite title is “mom.”

Speaking with with Audacy’s Rob + Holly just before her co-hosting gig at the 57th annual ACM Awards, which paired her with Jimmie Allen and the legendary Dolly Parton, Barrett gave fans an update on life with her one-year-old daughter. Baylah May was born on January 18, 2021, to Barrett and husband/band mate, Cade Foehner, and she says the little one has quickly adapted to the life of a traveling musician.

“She comes with me everywhere that I go,” Barrett said. “I like to be a very hands on mom. She’s my first priority over music, over anything. She comes on the bus, she normally stays in the bus with the nanny — she has a nanny that watches her — she’ll stay on the bus and I’ll be with her until I have to like, do my make up or do an interview, or do the show and I come back on and I’m mom.”

Balancing career and family life is a challenge for any new mom, but as a budding superstar with lots of opportunities, Barrett may have some seriously conflicted emotions. Luckily, the 22 year old (who just celebrated a birthday March 5), has had some help — but she’s still doing things her own way.

“I know I’ve talked to Carrie [Underwood] about a few different things,” Barrett explained. “When I was pregnant I had asked her just like, how she did certain things and what kind of advice she’d give and stuff like that. It was more like material things that we were talking about, not so much like, ‘How do I balance life of entertaining and motherhood?’ That’s something I had to kind of figure out for myself.”

For Barrett that means little Baylah will continue to ride along wherever mom and dad go. Whether it’s out to Las Vegas to the ACMs, or off to a special show with Brooks & Dunn, or deep into a grueling nationwide run on Jason Aldean’s Rock N’ Roll Cowboy Tour 2022, Baylah will be there. And it seems like she’s already a road warrior.

“Thankfully, I have been able to balance things well,” Barrett said. “That’s not to say there hasn’t been any challenges or anything like that, but Baylah, she’s just so great. She’s very flexible, sleeps on the bus like a doll, sleeps at home, sleeps in hotels, whatever. She’s just great, so I’m thankful that it’s been able to be a well-balanced [experience].”