Brantley Gilbert

In 2009 I discovered this unknown country artist named Brantley Gilbert.  I first heard Dirt Road Anthem (not the crappy Jason Aldean version, the REAL one) and fell in love.  It was like my own little version of rap country.  Don't get this confused with rap and country artists combining that just pisses me off and yes I have lots of opinions about it.  Anyway back to my story I started looking up more of Brantley and couldn't get enough.  He sings beautifully but with a hot rasp and writes every one of his songs.  I am a sucker for songwriters and lyrics that make me feel.  I got Brantley's new Cd the other day and wasn't disappointed when I saw he wrote every.single.song, I told my boyfriend that was like porn to me haha.  He didn't sell out to the music industry.  He has always stayed the same person....that would be why his album is called Just As I Am.

  Go buy it, no really do it and his first album Halfway To Heaven.  The first album is about how he almost died when he was drinking and driving and wrapped his truck around a tree. True story...and now I will get on with this story that I will NEVER EVER forget.

I am a concert lover!  I try to go to as many as I can afford so in 2010 I checked to see if Brantley was coming anywhere near Colorado. Of course he wasn't because nobody knew who the hell he was.  The closest he came was to Amarillo, Texas....9 hours away from me.  My crazy ass said I have to go see him.  So my boyfriend at the time and I drove down there in August.  A little background....my boyfriend was great at getting behind the scenes to meet people.  I got to meet Lee Brice and Clay Walker because he was good like that.  We cruised around Amarillo and checked out what they have to offer. Not much but I will tell you people in Texas are so much nicer than people in Colorado.  A bunch of assholes this state is.

Anyway my boyfriend had the bright idea to go to the venue around 4 because they were probably doing sound check and we might get to meet him.  We got there and his manager was outside and we explained how far we had driven to see him and he let us in. 

We spent the next 5 hours getting to know Brantley.  We sat on his bus while he drank the biggest bottle of Yeager I have ever seen and I picked his brain about all of his songs.  He told me what each one was about, who they were about and why.  For me that will always mean the world to me.  While on the bus we attempted to call all of the country music stations in Colorado trying to convince them to play him on the radio.  We got the same response "Who's that?"  Man were they missing out.  At the end of those hours Brantley decided he wanted to go back to his hotel before the show and we offered to drive him.  Can you imagine how much I was freaking out that Brantley was in MY car?  I was in the backseat having the biggest heart attack lol  He called Colt Ford and talked to him while we were in the car.  To 2 people that drove 9 hours to see him this made it all worth it.  We dropped him at his hotel and told him we would see him at the concert. 

We get to the concert and the band starts laughing at us and we aren't sure why.  Apparently we dropped him off at the wrong hotel.....oops haha Poor guy and it's safe to say he probably won't ever forget us.  After the concert (where he was perfect) he grabbed us and brought us back on the bus.  We said goodbye and that was that.  It was amazing!  The only thing I regret is that we didn't get any pictures. We didn't ask him because we were respecting the fact that he invited us into his bus in the first place but man I will cherish those moments forever.

I saw him three more times after that in Colorado...it took awhile but then I found out he would be here May 18th HEADLINING at Red Rocks.  It is every musician's dream to headline or even just play at Red Rocks.  If you ever come to Colorado you need to go there even if it's not for a concert.  I decided to take my mom and sister as a mother's day present.

Look at those skinny bitches!

Brantley and Thomas Rhett

I took about 100 more but I figured you didn't need to see all the blur of lights!


I seriously cried about 5 different times through out this concert.  I felt like a proud mom watching my kid grow up.  He went from just a handful of people knowing him to selling out Red Rocks.  He was so appreciative that he was crying on stage and kept saying thank you over and over.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a more real person up on stage.  Not to mention that instead of doing all new songs or songs people know he did a medley of old songs that only hardcore fans would know.  I didn't expect that and was so excited it was ridiculous!!  I even stayed sober that night so I didn't miss one moment.  Some might call me a freak. I just call myself passionate.

I will leave you with my favorite by him and if you decide to listen to it pay attention to the lyrics. 

"Watching an angel cry her tears,
Stepping over my beers as you walked out the door."

Any artist you can't get enough of? Anybody else a lyric freak like me?