Brantley Gilbert is one of those artists who simply cannot be defined by a genre or any kind of generalization. He’s more than happy to be categorized as “outside the box,” but still he’s recognized as an American country singer and songwriter — who has also been known to include some rap and rock ‘n roll in his music. Hailing from Jefferson, Georgia, Gilbert is now one of country music’s biggest stars. He’s got 11 country chart hits, four of which are number one singles and holds the writing credits on two of Jason Aldean’s biggest hits. Since it’s his birthday, here’s a look at 10 things you probably didn’t know about Brantley Gilbert:
10. He’s a Romantic
Gilbert calls his wife Amber Cochran “the one that got away.” He dated her right out of high school, but they split up for five years. Lucky for him, he won her back and eventually proposed. Even though he’d known her for about 10 years, he was really nervous about popping the question. “I had a plan, and I had a song. I wrote a song to her dad, actually. It was called, ‘Your Little Girl,'” he said. “Me and her dad always had a cool little thing, like…her mom knew I was trouble, and he did too, but we kind of joked around. We were buddies until the girls walked in, and then he had to be all serious.” Her father passed away before Gilbert got the chance to propose, so he wrote this song as a way to incorporate him into the experience. “I wrote him a song and actually stopped by and saw him at the grave that day and put the song down, and that was my way of askin’ for his blessing since I couldn’t ask him for it. I just kind of talked to him for a little bit and sang that song to her and asked her to marry me, and, my God, she said yes!”
REX