Brantley Gilbert Reveals His Requirements For Every Song He Records

Brantley Gilbert writes all of his songs for his albums, including his chart-topping hits like “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do” and “One Hell of an Amen.” But in spite of being one of the more prolific writers in country music, the 33-year-old says songwriting is still a struggle for him.

“I’m not good enough at my job to sit down and say, ‘I’m gonna write a No. 1 song today,’” says Gilbert. “You write the best song for the moment and make sure it’s the best, and double-check your words about a million times and see if you would have written it different a month later, if you hadn’t gone into the studio yet. I constantly go back in and almost rewrite a lot of these songs.”

Gilbert loves to craft a good lyric, but he also knows what a song needs, at least in the beginning, even though it might not be part of the end result.

“To be honest, a lot of times a little bit of cheesy gets you in the door, but that’s not really my route,” says Gilbert. “Everything I do I try to make as authentic as possible and you know, something you can touch and feel, and if my lyrics don’t do that for you, if they don’t paint that picture, if they don’t give you that object they can touch, then more than likely that’s not a song that needs to go on a record.”

The married father of one hints that his next album might be different than any of his previous records.

“There’s been some ideas in the air about an acoustic record possibly, which is kind of off the cuff, I know a lot of people think from us, but there is that side,” Gilbert says. “There’s what I call B-sides on the record. They’re not singled songs they’re not songs that we decided to put out to radio, but they’re songs that are heartfelt, that are keyed down, that are a little more vulnerable side to me. Which, there’s not a very vulnerable side, but once you hit it, you hit it.”

Gilbert is currently headlining his own The Ones That Like Me Tour, but apparently he will need a new bus, since his bus recently caught fire. Thankfully, Gilbert and his band and crew were all OK. Dates for all of Gilbert’s shows are listed on his website.

Photo Credit: Facebook/Brantley Gilbert