ABC/Image Group LAEven though he’s recorded three dozen songs for his new album and he’s closing in on two years since he released his most recent project, Just As I Am, Brantley Gilbert is in no hurry to put out his follow-up.
“I’ve got to go with a gut feeling, and I don’t have it yet,” he tells Billboard. “I’ve learned from past experience that any time I’ve tried to put a time stamp on it I end up shooting myself in the foot and I wind up writing three songs the day before it’s supposed to come out. So we end up releasing a gold edition and then a platinum edition and you end up with a record that has almost 20 songs on it. We’re just being patient right now and diligent at the same time, writing every chance I get and writing with a purpose, and when I know I’ve got it, it’ll come out.”
If there’s anyone who shares Brantley’s sense of how his work is progressing, he says it would be his muse, Amber. The two were married last summer.
“The awesome part about my wife is I’ve written love songs about her, I’ve written break-up songs about her, I’ve written mean songs to her that are on the soon-to-never-be-released album,” he jokes. “She’s really cool with it. When I write something, she’s my first critic. She gives me a pretty unfiltered, honest opinion, which is great, too.”
As Brantley continues to work on his forthcoming record, he’s not counting out the idea of a fifth single from Just As I Am. Tonight he kicks off the 2016 dates on his Blackout Tour in Saginaw, Michigan with Canaan Smith and Michael Ray.
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