Brantley Gilbert is having fun, enjoying career and music
by Scott Kiefer

Brantley Gilbert has become of country music's new driving forces, and has went from opening act, to support act, to headlining arena tours in just four short years since making his impact on country radio. Legions of fans across the board, his beloved BG Nation club, and his sincerest dedication to his music and fans has only added to accredibility in country music. Now on the second leg of his arena headlining "Let It Ride" tour, Gilbert will play the Chaifetz Arena Friday night, along with Aaron Lewis, Chase Bryant, and Brian Davis.
Aptly named the "Let It Ride Tour," Gilbert recently said in an interview that it's time for hime to relax and have a little fun.
"So many of my songs and videos have been so serious, if you look back on them," Gilbert said. "I just realized it's time to have a little bit of fun, and enjoy this thing we've got."
Gilbert actually said that making the video for his single "Small Town Throw Down" was the key to finally take time to enjoy his career.
"Making that video is what convinced me," Gilbert said. "It was a whole lotta fun with Justin Moore and Thomas Rhett. It just dawned on me how much fun it was, and that it was now a time to relax and have a little fun, if just for a while."
Of course, being Brantley Gilbert would have to be a little bit of fun by any stretch of the imagination, but it's also still a work in progress, which includes numerous interviews, personal appearances, and concert tours.
"We gotta keep rolling on this thing," Gilbert said, "but, the most important part is to keep counting out blessings which we do every day."
Currently in the middle of the "Let It Ride" tour, dates will continue through about the middle of December, and then some time off the road.
There's plenty more to come from Gilbert's current album, "Just As I Am," however.
“I sing for the people who have helped me do my thing,” he says. His inspiration for writing comes from all aspects of his life, but he knows when he gets an “ear worm” it is a song that he needs to write now; he just has to give it legs and wings.
While he certainly writes for himself, Brantley believes that his music reverberates with others because he is writing about life.
“I cannot take an engine apart and put it back together, but maybe when a mechanic hears one of my songs, my music can help him through something he’s going through in his life. If what I have gone through helps someone else, then I feel I am doing what I was put here to do. ‘I’m Gone’ is me telling others that, sometimes, holding on is not the best decision.”
He believes that songs motivate people to do something. “I don’t sing what I don’t write and I don’t write what I don’t live. I’m not the best singer; I just sing my stories, my life.”
Brantley writes about lovin’, drinkin’, partyin’, fightin’, trials and tribulations, faith and triumphs.
"It's just what I do, brother," Gilbert recently said. "I'm just glad the people like it, because that's why I do it. I like to have fun, put on the best show I can, and make that connection with the people. That's what makes music the awesome thing that it is. It's just sharing real life."

Who: Brantley Gilbert, "Let It Ride Tour"
When: Friday, October 17
Where: Chaifetz Arena
Tickets: $33 to $47
How: www.ticketmaster.com

Staind's Aaron Lewis Throws First Dice Roll at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City's Grand Opening Event   

Hundreds join rock star to celebrate opening of entertainment destination-- 

Lewis is prepping for fall run with Brantley Gilbert, coming to Chaifetz Arena

 

Aaron Lewis throwing the first dice at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Souix City grand opening on Friday. Lewis is the Special Guest on Brantley Gilbert's Let I Ride Tour, coming to the Chaifetz Arena on October 17. Also on the bill are Chase Bryant and Bryan Davis. Tickets range from $24.75 to $37 each. For more information, visit www.thechaifetzarena.com, or www.ticketmaster.com

BRANTLEY GILBERT STRIKES GOLD WITH
JUST AS I AM

Hitmaker Announces Second Leg of LET IT RIDE TOUR in Special Video to BG Nation

 

Media Only: https://bmlg.box.com/s/7w05ylih0rqsvoy7r9rr
 

Nashville, TN (July 11, 2014) – Continuing to build on an already stellar year, BRANTLEY GILBERT strikes another career high-mark with the GOLD-certification of  JUST AS I AM (The Valory Music Co.). His third studio album, which debuted at #1 on Billboard Country Albums Chart, also scored the third highest album debut of the year with over 212,000 copies sold in the first week. Brantley's latest project has already produced the Platinum-certified, #1 lead single “Bottoms Up,” whose music video has seen over 23 million views. Quickly climbing the Country airplay charts, the Top 20-and-rising follow-up, “Small Town Throwdown,” features labelmates JUSTIN MOORE and THOMAS RHETT.

Earlier this week, Brantley and his sidekick Sylo revealed dates and opening acts for the second leg of his LET IT RIDE TOUR through a special video to the BG Nation. The announcement also included footage from the first part of the tour, showing fired-up performances from the multiple sold-out shows last spring. This round is set to kick off on September 19 in Austin, TX.  Aaron Lewis as direct support 9/19 through 10/25 and Tyler Farr as direct support 10/30 through 12/6. Chase Bryant will be opening all dates.

LET IT RIDE TOUR dates – Second Leg:
With special guest Aaron Lewis and Chase Bryant
9/19 – Austin, TX (Cedar Park Center)
9/20 – Tulsa, OK (BOK Center)
9/26 – State College, PA (Bryce Jordan Center)
9/27 – Worcester, MA (DCU Center)
9/28 – Bangor, ME (Cross Insurance Center)
10/9 – Cincinnati, OH (US Bank Arena)
10/10 – Southaven, MS (Landers Center)
10/11 – Jackson, MS (MS Coliseum)
10/16 – Madison, WI (Veterans Memorial Coliseum at Alliant Energy Center)
10/17 – St. Louis, MO (Chifetz Arena)
10/18 – Moline, IL (iWireless Center)
10/23 – Des Moines, IA (Wells Fargo Arena)
10/24 – Cape Girardeau, MO (Show Me Center)
10/25 – Kansas City, MO (Sprint Center)

With special guest Tyler Farr and Chase Bryant
10/30 – Raleigh, NC (PNC Arena)
10/31 – Savannah, GA (Martin Luther King Jr. Arena)
11/1 – Norfolk, VA (The Ted Constant Convocation Center)
11/20 – Fresno, CA (Save Mart Center at Fresno State)
11/21 – San Jose, CA (SAP Center)
11/22 – Anaheim, CA (Honda Center)
12/4 – Charlotte, NC (Time Warner Cable Arena)
12/5 – Nashville, TN (Bridgestone Arena)
12/6 – Pikeville, KY (Eastern Kentucky Expo Center)

Shows prior to the tour kickoff currently on sale are: (8/16) New York, NY; (8/22) Watertown, NY and (8/30) Pueblo, CO.

For tickets and more information visit, www.brantleygilbert.com.

The Georgia native has racked up five #1 singles, impressive album sales, multiple award show nominations from the CMA, ACM, ACA & CMT Music Awards and was named 2013 ACM Awards New Male Artist of the Year. Brantley's previous project, the PLATINUM-certified HALFWAY TO HEAVEN DELUXE, produced Platinum-certified #1 hit – “Country Must Be Country Wide” and Gold-certified #1 hit “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do." As a celebrated songwriter, he has also penned #1 songs “My Kinda Party,” “Dirt Road Anthem” for Jason Aldean as well as his own “Country Must Be Country Wide” and “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do.” 

# # #

Aaron Lewis Joins Brantley Gilbert for Second Leg of LET IT RIDE TOUR

Brantley Gilbert Makes Announcement in a Special Video to Fans

NASHVILLE, TN (July 11, 2014) – Grammy Award-nominated, multi-platinum singer/songwriter Aaron Lewis is joining Brantley Gilbert on the second leg of the Let It Ride Tour. Earlier this week, Brantley Gilbert and his sidekick Sylo revealed dates and opening acts for the second leg of his LET IT RIDE TOUR through a special video. The announcement also included footage from the first part of the tour, showing fired-up performances from the multiple sold-out shows last spring. This round is set to kick off on September 19 in Austin, TX.  Aaron Lewis as direct support 9/19 through 10/25 and Tyler Farr as direct support 10/30 through 12/6. Chase Bryant will be opening all dates. For tickets and more info on the Let It Ride Tour, visit: brantleygilbert.com. For more info on Aaron Lewis, visit: aaronlewismusic.com. “I'm very excited to be hitting the road with Brantley Gilbert on the Let It Ride Tour in September,” said Lewis. “This is gonna be a good one!!” LET IT RIDE TOUR dates with special guests Aaron Lewis & Chase Bryant: 09/19 – Austin, TX (Cedar Park Center) 09/20 – Tulsa, OK (BOK Center) 09/26 – State College, PA (Bryce Jordan Center) 09/27 – Worcester, MA (DCU Center) 09/28 – Bangor, ME (Cross Insurance Center) 10/09 – Cincinnati, OH (US Bank Arena) 10/10 – Southaven, MS (Landers Center) 10/11 – Jackson, MS (MS Coliseum) 10/16 – Madison, WI (Veterans Memorial Coliseum at Alliant Energy Center) 10/17 – St. Louis, MO (Chifetz Arena) 10/18 – Moline, IL (iWireless Center) 10/23 – Des Moines, IA (Wells Fargo Arena) 10/24 – Cape Girardeau, MO (Show Me Center) 10/25 – Kansas City, MO (Sprint Center) About Aaron Lewis: Aaron Lewis's 2011 first solo release, Town Line, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Country Album Chart.  The first single from that release, "Country Boy," featured the late George Jones and Charlie Daniels and has been certified Gold.  It earned Lewis multiple CMA, ACM and CMT Music Award nominations, while the accompanying video has been streamed over eighteen million times to date. Lewis completed a run of dates as the headlining act on the Jägermeister Country Tour, performing a majority of the songs from The Road.  The album was released by Blaster Records via Warner Music Nashville in late 2012. As the front man for the multi-platinum selling band Staind, Lewis is the songwriter and voice behind the most-played rock song of the past decade, "It's Been Awhile," in addition to three other #1 hits and eight Top-Ten singles.   # # #   Suggested Tweet: .@AaronLewisMusic Joins @BrantleyGilbert for Second Leg of #LETITRIDETOUR - *|URL|*

BRANTLEY GILBERT STRIKES GOLD WITH HIT SINGLE “BOTTOMS UP”   LET IT RIDE TOUR Kicks Off Tonight With Special Guests Thomas Rhett & Eric Paslay Photo Credit: James Minchin   Nashville, TN (March 27, 2014) – Brantley Gilbert strikes GOLD for the fourth time with his current single, “Bottoms Up," which has been certified by the RIAA and has sold over 740,000 downloads to date. The accompanying video for the Top 10-and-rising smash has garnered over 9.6 million views.  It has also scored the top spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, which lists the most popular Country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sales and streaming. The rocking tune serves as the lead single off of the Georgia native’s forthcoming album, JUST AS I AM (The Valory Music Co.), slated for release on May 19. Tonight, Brantley kicks off his headline LET IT RIDE TOUR in La Crosse, WI, with special guests Thomas Rhett and Eric Paslay. The 22-city trek will span the country, wrapping up with a show at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, CO, on May 18. Brantley will give fans a preview of the new music and perform previous #1 hits – PLATINUM-certified “You Don’t Know Her like I Do” and GOLD-certified “Country Must Be Country Wide” – among others. For tour dates and more visit, www.brantleygilbert.com   # # #

Did yall grab your tickets for the LET IT RIDE TOUR before you knew about the VIP experience??? Well now you can upgrade your ticket.... Get a pre-show party with acoustic performance by Brantley himself and exclusive merch! You arent gonna wanna miss out on this...  You can check out all the VIP package upgrades and learn more here: http://www.cidentertainment.com/brantleygilbert Just click on "PURCHASE" next to the show you have tickets for and you'll be able to select the upgrade option on the next pag

BRANTLEY GILBERT KICKS IT IN HIGH GEAR WITH NEW MUSIC AND TOUR   New Single “Bottoms Up” Officially Hits Country Radio Today   LET IT RIDE TOUR Begins 3/27 with Special Guests Thomas Rhett and Eric Paslay   Photo Credit: James Minchin   NASHVILLE, TN (January 13, 2013) – Brantley Gilbert is kicking off 2014 in high gear with new music and a headline tour. Impacting Country radio today, "Bottoms Up" is the first new music the Georgia native has produced for his loyal BG Nation fans in over four years. The lead single from Brantley's forthcoming album on The Valory Music Co. was made available in late December and quickly shot up the iTunes charts peaking at #1 on the Country Singles Chart and #8 All Genres. Coinciding with the single release, fans were also able to purchase the accompanying video, which was shot in Nashville and flashes from 1930’s vintage to modern day party scenes. Directed by CMA Award-winning Shane Drake, the video has already garnered over 1.2 million views on VEVO. Watch here. The Country rocker will preview additional new material during his 22-city LET IT RIDE TOUR, beginning 3/27 with special guests Thomas Rhett and Eric Paslay. During Brantley’s second headlining tour, which makes stops at arenas across the country, fans can also expect to hear the GOLD-certified #1 hits, “Country Must Be Country Wide” and “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do.” “I’m really excited to get this new music out the fans! The response from the BG Nation has blown me away. They always come out in full force,” said Brantley. “Can’t wait to see the reaction we get on the road.” To help make the announcement, Brantley called on the BG Nation to use the hashtag #LETITRIDETOUR on Instagram to post photos and videos expressing excitement about the tour, and finding creative ways to announce their hometown's tour date or the stop closest to them.  More information on the promotion and a gallery of fan-submitted content is available at www.brantleygilbert.com. LET IT RIDE TOUR Dates: 3/27                              LaCrosse, WI – LaCrosse Center 3/28                              Bloomington, IL – US Cellular Coliseum 3/29                              Corinth, MS. – Crossroads Arena 4/10                              Greensboro, NC – Coliseum 4/11                              Tuscaloosa, AL – Tuscaloosa Amphitheater 4/12                              Bossier City, LA – CenturyLink Center 4/17                              Macon, GA – Centreplex 4/18                              Louisville, KY – KFC Yum! Center 4/19                              Little Rock, AR – Verizon Arena 4/24                              Stockton, CA – Stockton Arena 4/25                             Indio, CA -- Stagecoach 4/26                              Pozo, CA  -- Pozo Saloon ** 5/1                                Springfield, MO – JQH Arena 5/2                                Evansville, IN – The Ford Center 5/3                                Live Oak, FL – Suwannee River Jam* ** 5/8                                Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena 5/9                                Charleston, WV – Civic Center 5/10                              Greenville, SC – Bon Secours Wellness Arena ** 5/15                              Omaha, NE – CenturyLink Center 5/16                              Sioux Falls, SD – Sioux Falls Arena 5/17                              Wichita, KS -- INTRUST Bank Arena 5/18                              Denver, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre * Not including Eric Paslay ** Not including Thomas Rhett          # # # About Thomas Rhett: Watching father Rhett Akins work as an artist and hit songwriter, music has always been a part of 23-year-old Thomas Rhett’s life. The Valdosta, GA, native spent his high school years dabbling in songwriting and playing in a band with friends. Thomas Rhett signed his first publishing deal with EMI while still a student at Lipscomb University in Nashville, and shortly thereafter, signed a record deal with The Valory Music Co. The talented singer has scored two Top 15 hits – the poignant “Beer With Jesus” and debut single “Something To Do With My Hands” – both of which are on his debut album, IT GOES LIKE THIS, out now. The project also features Thomas Rhett's new single, “Get Me Some Of That,” as well as the multi-week #1, “It Goes Like This,” which has been certified PLATINUM for sales of over 1 million downloads. With his first-time #1 holding the top spot for three weeks on the Billboard Country Singles Chart, Thomas Rhett ties Miranda Lambert for the record set three years ago with "The House That Built Me. As a gifted songwriter, he has penned Florida Georgia Line’s two-week #1 “Round Here” and two Jason Aldean cuts, including the Top 15 smash “1994.” He recently wrapped his opening slot on Aldean’s NIGHT TRAIN TOUR and was a part of the first-ever Country concert at Fenway Park in Boston. He has made national television appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, The Queen Latifah Show and FOX’s American Country Awards. For tour dates and more visit: www.thomasrhett.com. About Eric Paslay: EMI Records Nashville recording artist Eric Paslay will release his self-titled debut album on February 4. The album features his Top 10 single “Friday Night” which was chosen by ESPN for use in their weekly ESPN College Football Primetime broadcasts this past fall.  In the last year, Eric has co-penned three #1s singles including "Even If It Breaks Your Heart” (Eli Young Band), “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” (Jake Owen) and “Angel Eyes” (Love & Theft). Paslay was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Song, for ACM Song Of The Year and CMA Song Of The Year for his hit "Even If It Breaks Your Heart."