When your custom mic stand is shaped like a set of brass knuckles, people are bound to see you as a tough guy looking to fight. But there’s more to country star Brantley Gilbert than meets the eye — even if he describes himself as the “what you see is what you get” artist.
His fourth album, The Devil Don’t Sleep, is full of pissed-off power chords and ass-whuppin’ anthems, but Gilbert is a tough guy in transition, one who’s changing his idea of what tough really is.
“This is probably the most feel-good, positive record I’ve ever released,” Gilbert tells the Scene, smiling and laughing in a chic Nashville rehearsal space, miles away from his onstage persona — which sometimes feels like a character in the WWE. “There’s some bad and ugly in there, but compared to the other records, this is probably the most positive one, because this is the most positive chapter in my life.”
A Georgia native, Gilbert has found radio hits with softer-touch songs like “Country Must Be Country Wide,” “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do” and “Bottoms Up” — all of which became country No. 1s — but the bad-and-ugly has been a big component of his success. Growling, aggressive tracks like “Take It Outside” and “Read Me My Rights” inspire mosh pits at his arena shows, where fights are common. But after a few years of sobriety and domestic bliss, a more thoughtful kind of tough guy is taking hold.
“I had a big misconception for a large part of my life about what the important kind of tough is,” he explains. “I put a lot more weight on being physically tough and being an intimidating figure than I did on being mentally, spiritually and morally tough. I’ve tried to spend more time focusing on that in this chapter of my life.”
Dressed in a black ball cap and hoodie with his scruffy beard framed by large-gauge earrings, Gilbert admits he’s been attracted to the rougher crowd since he was a teenager. He still loves “chaos and mayhem,” but now aims for “controlled chaos and mayhem.”
His fans are another story, though. A lot of them seem to see Gilbert as an avatar for white male aggression, and they come out to shows with the uncontrolled mayhem of a Trump rally in mind. “Oh yeah, they fight,” he says with a grin. “If you put 10,000 people anywhere and sing ‘Take It Outside,’ ‘Read Me My Rights’ and ‘Kick it in the Sticks,’ somebody’s gonna fight.”
Some people do come to the shows because they know the reputation, Gilbert says, and he can often pick them out from the stage. “He’ll get there and be drinking a little bit, and he’s got that look like, ‘I’m gonna meet a girl tonight.’ A couple of girls will blow him off and he just keeps drinking, and then you see it switch. It goes from, ‘I’m gonna try to meet a girl tonight,’ to, ‘I’m gonna whup somebody’s ass.’ ”
But it’s not really about pointless violence, Gilbert continues. He says the fights are often between two guys who really need to blow off some physical steam, stuck in a frustrating world that doesn’t reward strength and courage like it used to. And that’s something Gilbert will always identify with. With his new album, Gilbert continues to give those willing to test themselves a soundtrack. Musical beatdowns like “Bro Code” and “Bullet in a Bonfire” are all about sticking up for women, a subject that has always brought Gilbert’s sneering tough guy out.
“There are situations where I feel like I’m the guy who will step up and say, ‘Hey,’ ” he explains. “Like if a guy puts his hands on a woman in front of me, I’m gonna beat the fuck out of him. But in general, I’m not just walking around looking for problems.”
But now the thoughtful side of Gilbert’s new music is attracting as much attention as the rowdy stuff. A boozy jam called “The Weekend” is Devil’s first single, but the title track is all about the daily struggle to outrun personal demons, not embrace them. “Way Back” reveals Gilbert’s redemption story — thanks to a long-lost love — and every interview he’s done so far has included talk about the closing track, “3 Feet of Water,” a quiet, contemplative piano ballad about a baptism.
“It’s about mercy and grace and forgiveness,” he says of the song. “I have a similar feeling about that song that I had about [2014’s No. 1 hit] ‘One Hell of an Amen.’ I don’t know what it’s gonna do, but I know it’s gonna do something — something good.”
Perhaps one day soon, he’ll need a new mic stand — maybe in the shape of a pulpit.
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