Brantley Gilbert believes his albums are the chapters of his life and each continues the story where the last left off. With his third studio album JUST AS I AM (The Valory Music Co.), Brantley adds “best seller” to his growing list of accolades upon selling over 211,000 copies in the first week, owning the Billboard Country Albums chart with a #1 debut and becoming the second highest Country debut this year. Brantley’s first new music in over four years also scored a spot at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard Top 200 chart, just behind Coldplay.
JUST AS I AM has received much critical acclaim from top critics at high-profile media outlets:
New York Times: “Mr. Gilbert is a unique sort of brute. In a country era where hardness isn’t valorized in the least, he’s unapologetically rough, singing with the tenderness of a chain saw. And on this strong album — his third in a row — he betrays no shame about his creatine-fueled version of country music…”
Associated Press: “Everybody in Nashville has been predicting Brantley Gilbert will be the next big thing in country music for a couple of years now. His new album, the long-awaited “Just as I Am,” is engineered to make that little bit of soothsaying a reality.”
To launch the highly-anticipated record, Brantley combined his passions – music, motorcycles and military – partnering with Harley-Davidson and Folds of Honor for a six-day trek from Athens, GA, to Arlington, VA. To help honor some of our nation’s heroes, names of fallen soldiers adorned a tour bus that also made the journey. Brantley started the celebration with a sold-out concert at the Georgia Theatre, a venue the Georgia native had always dreamed of selling out, and did early in his career. The Georgia native made stops along the way to perform acoustic sets and sign autographs at various Best Buy, Harley-Davidson and Walmart retail locations. The ride culminated on Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery where Brantley had the honor of laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with Folds of Honor scholarship recipient Sarah White. See highlights from the week here.
The album’s lead single, “Bottoms Up,” previously scored the #1 spot on both Country radio charts and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales exceeding 1 million digital downloads.
Featuring labelmates Justin Moore and Thomas Rhett, Brantley’s next single “Small Town Throwdown” was the “most added” at Country radio last week with nearly 80 stations on.
JUST AS I AM follows Brantley’s previous Platinum-certified album HALFWAY TO HEAVEN.
Fans can catch Brantley at select festivals this summer. To see full performance dates, visit BrantleyGilbert.com.
