Brantley Gilbert stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to talk about his brand new album Fire & Brimstone out today (October 4).
The album features three collaborations on it; "What Happens In A Small Town" with Lindsey Ell, "Welcome To Hazeville" with Willie Nelson, Colt Ford, and Lukas Nelson, and "Fire & Brimstone" with Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss. When it comes to all of the collaborations, Gilbert has his people reach out to the artists he wants to work with and he says it's because he wants to save himself the embarrassment in case they say no. The title of the album is a song on the record, but it's also the same trend Gilbert likes to go for his record names. He says all of his albums have a spiritual or faith-based title because they are about his journey in life and each one is a snapshot at that specific chapter of his life. Fire & Brimstone is the chapter for Gilbert that is all about being the best person he can be as a man, husband, and father.
His song "Man That Hung The Moon" was inspired by watching his wife give birth. He confessed that he watched the whole birth and gained so much respect for his wife and women in general afterwards. He went further saying he now thinks "women are tougher than men." Gilbert laughed saying that the birth process and scenes isn't something you want to write a country song about, so instead he wrote a song about one of his concerns of being a dad. He says that his kids will find out sooner than most that their dad isn't a superhero, but he wanted them to know there will be a day that they need more than him. Before the song was ever recorded for the album, Gilbert actually played the song on guitar for Bobby Bones to see what he thought and Bones confessed that it almost made him cry.
This album took about three years for Gilbert to put out from his last drop of new music, and with that Gilbert says he likes the idea of people living with a record and being really familiar with it. He said,
"If I say these are chapters of my life, then I need to live that chapter before I get to the next one."
Gilbert has been known for his epic cruise concerts he's thrown in previous years. He said that the cruises even have tattoo parlors on them, but Gilbert confesses he doesn't get tattoos at them for fear of being on a moving boat and something going wrong. He also shared that he's excited about upcoming cruises because his team is making more time for him to hang out, especially spend some time at the casino to play Blackjack. Gilbert joked that he thought the cruise would be pretty wild, but as it turns out, his fans are some of the most well-behaved, and generous that the cruise workers have experienced.
Bones played a game with Gilbert to ask some rapid fire questions on his life.
BB: What superstition do you believe is true?
BG: Happy wife, happy life.
BB: What's the one thing under $100 that everyone should own?
BG: My record.
BB: What surprised you most about your wife when you moved in together?
BG: How much stuff you can fit in a room.
BB: What's the last movie you saw in theaters?
BG: How To Train Your Dragon 3.
BB: What piece of advice from an artist has stayed with you the longest?
BG: Keith Urban came to see me when I was in a dark place in my life, he said "It's going to be strange for awhile, but it will get better. [...] Once you got your mind and heart wrapped around it, life in general would be different, but better."