Brantley Gilbert has emerged in recent years as one of the biggest names in country music.
Buoyed by an aggressive sound that owes as much to modern rock as it does to his rural upbringing, the Georgia native has cranked out a series of hits that include “Bottoms Up,” “One Hell of an Amen,” “Country Must Be Country Wide,” “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do” and “Small Town Throwdown.”
An Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association award winner, Gilbert will bring his headlining “The Ones That Like Me” tour to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville for a performance at 7 p.m. Thursday. The show also includes special guests Aaron Lewis and Josh Phillips.
Here are five things you might not know about Gilbert, whose music has been described as "bro-country":
1. He’s responsible for two of country superstar Jason Aldean’s biggest hits, having co-penned the chart-topping “Dirt Road Anthem” with Colt Ford and having written “My Kinda Party,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
2. Gilbert, now 33, was involved in a near-fatal truck accident near his hometown of Jefferson, Ga., when he was 19. His song “Halfway to Heaven” is about the crash, and he returned to the site of the wreck to make a music video for it.
3. He’s partnered with Pedigree Brand and Disabled American Veterans to give eight companion dogs to servicemen and servicewomen returning home from war.
“There is nothing like the loyalty, love and companionship of a dog,” Gilbert said in a statement. “For some people, a dog can connect unlike even a best friend and, for those who gave beyond the call of duty to our nation, I love the idea of matching them up with a trained companion dog to help them get their lives to a better place.”
4. For his May 4 concert in Nashville, Tenn., Gilbert will be joined by a symphony orchestra led by conductor Jim Gray, whose resume includes performing with Miranda Lambert, Imagine Dragons and Barbra Streisand.
The ensemble, dubbed the Ones That Like Me Orchestra after his current tour, will put a new twist on such hits as “Kick It in the Sticks” and “Bottoms Up.”
5. He has a lot of tattoos, including one on his chest that depicts a cross and celebrates his Christian faith and one on his back that depicts two guns and shows his support for the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.