Brantley Gilbert joined forces with HARDY to write some of the tracks on his latest album, and now, Gilbert is reflecting on the reasons writing with the award-winning artist was a successful experience.
“He’s obviously good at what he does, and he does his homework too,” Gilbert said of HARDY, via his record label. “It’s not like he’ll just sit down in a room and expect something awesome to happen. He shows up with ideas. I think one of his big strengths is he holds his place in a room right, but I can be a little over bearing at times.
“I have a tendency to hijack a write. Like, if I think it’s somethin’ I want to put on my record, I’ll just straight up steal it, and I can box people out and block ideas and block words,” Gilbert continued, noting the differences between the two singer-songwriters. “I have a tendency to be over bearing in a room. He doesn’t have that. If he really has a solid line, he’ll stand up for it, like he’s not a pushover when it comes to that, but I just feel like he molds into a room well and he’s a great writer, but he’s a great cowriter. You know, there is a difference. You’ll meet guys that write great songs by themselves that get in a room with other people and it can be nails on a chalkboard. But he’s not one of those. He’s a solid a** dude.”
Gilbert released his latest album, So Help Me God, in November. HARDY co-wrote four of the 10 tracks on the project, including “Heaven By Then,” which Gilbert recorded as a collaboration with Blake Shelton and Vince Gill. HARDY also co-wrote “Rolex On A Redneck” featuring Jason Aldean, “The Worst Country Song Of All Time” featuring himself and Toby Keith, and the site track.
“In the past, my albums were almost direct reflections, direct chapters of my life,” Gilbert previously said of So Help Me God. “Whatever I’d gone through since I wrote the last record would make its way onto the new album. There’s still some of that with So Help Me God since I’m a cowriter on all the songs – it’s been three years since the last release and a lot of life lived. But I feel like this album is more of a mixtape of great songs.
“We wanted to put songs that sounded good together, but also songs that covered a wide variety of genre influences. There’s a lot of different songwriting styles on the album. We’re super excited about it, and I can’t wait for BG Nation to hear what we’ve been working on.”