Brantley Gilbert was born in the small town of Jefferson, Georgia, just outside of Athens. He grew up hearing country music, but he also heard a lot of Athens rock bands like R.E.M. and the B-52's and the swaggered Southern rock of bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd. Gilbert blends all of these various strains together. A near-fatal car accident when he was 19 years old inspired Gilbert to give music his all, and he started writing songs in earnest, playing mostly solo acoustic gigs before forming a band that could bring his vision of a hard-stomping country/rock/soul show to fruition. He signed with Warner Chappell Publishing and began working toward completing an album. Modern Day Prodigal Son was originally slated for release in 2006 and finally appeared three years later in 2009 from Average Joe's, which also released the follow-up, Halfway to Heaven, in 2010. A deluxe edition of Halfway to Heaven arrived in 2011. The first single, "Country Music Be Country Wide," reached No. 1. He followed that success with another No. 1, "You Don't Know Her Like I Do." More recently, he released The Devil Don't Sleep in 2017. Brantley continues to sell out shows all over the country.