Brantley Gilbert Takes Sobriety One Day at a Time

Brantley Gilbert doesn't plan on making any New Year's resolutions this year – or any year, for that matter. The singer-songwriter says that, for him, the best he can do is take life one day at a time, especially when it comes to his sobriety.

"With what I do for a living, everything's so run and gun and it's so last minute all the time," Gilbert acknowledged. "I feel like you schedule what you can, but for my life, even the last six years not drinking, it's been a day to day thing. I set short-term goals. It helps me stay driven and motivated, and long-term goals have never been super successful for me when it comes to things like that."

For Gilbert, the best way to give up unhealthy habits is to just determine in his mind that he will – and he knows which thing he will give up next.

"My pop will tell you – he's my biker dad, he tells everybody that once I'm done with something, I'm done," Gilbert said. "So if I say I'm gonna be done with something, then I do it, then I'm done with it. That quitting smoking thing is coming soon, but I don't think it'd last if it was just a New Year's resolution. If I come up with it in my mind, 'Hey, this is what I need to do with my life and it needs to happen now,' then I'll set up my own little timing and execute it and stay away from it."

The Georgia native is back at radio with a new single, "What Happens In A Small Town," a duet with Lindsay Ell.

"I think everybody's lived this," Gilbert said of the song. "There's that one person, and you can't quite shake 'em. You can break up, but you don't let go. And you know, it's never worse than at the holidays. So, when we were talking to [Big Machine Label Group CEO Scott Borchetta] about the song, we realized it needs to be out now, when it can – maybe – do people some good."

"What Happens In A Small Town" is from an upcoming new album, but Gilbert chose to release the song during the holiday season.

"It's not exactly a Christmas song," Gilbert said of the single. "But at this time of year, most people really do have a harder time with this sort of thing. The holidays can make it terrible, or maybe make people figure stuff out. So I'm glad we're able to do something a little outside the box, something that plugs straight into the BG Nation with a song that might just make the holidays turn out a little different than they started."

Download "What Happens In A Small Town" on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Alberto E. Rodriguez