Just as I Am [Platinum Edition] [Bonus Tracks]

by Brantley Gilbert

Overview

Its title is a shrug, but it's also defiant, an admission that Brantley Gilbert can't be anything but who he is -- a stance adopted by outlaw country singers since the early '70s, or perhaps earlier. Gilbert does welcome comparisons to Waylon and Willie -- the former more than the latter; he does really like such niceties as swing or jazz -- but he's a child of the '80s, raised on arena rock and volume; the first Hank he knew was Jr., not Sr. That may mean he favors amplification -- every song on Just as I Am feels cranked to 11, even the heartbroken ballads -- but he's not a guy who lives in the suburbs, strutting in tight jeans as he sings about trucks. He may live in the same world as Luke Bryan, but he's not pining for a past he never experienced, not even when he's singing about how his baby is Guns N' Roses, a band who had their breakthrough two years after his birth -- he's a sober-minded singer whose breakthrough hit "Bottoms Up" marched to a minor-key riff that echoes throughout Just as I Am, Gilbert's second major-label album. It's a muscular and knowing collection of contemporary country -- country that feels rooted in wayward traditions while still nodding at the conventions of Nashville. Unlike Eric Church -- a singer who certainly influenced this 2014 set -- Gilbert neither favors the sheer noise of arena rock nor celebrates the swaggering outsider stance of Church. Gilbert doesn't romanticize, which is what gives Just as I Am its resonance: he's an unfussy songwriter, a singer without affection, a musician with good instincts that never celebrate his taste. He soldiers on, playing music that seems grounded and present in its era, even as it references older sounds, perhaps even styles he's never grasped. He's not carrying the torch for any specific singer or songwriter but rather an attitude, standing for the guy who'd rather tear things up than recede into the corner. He's big, strong, and muscular, creating a roar grounded in '70s outlaw and '80s arena rock, but Gilbert is nervy, loving his well-known heritage but never wanting to succumb to the quirks everybody else knows. This tension gives Just as I Am energy, but its endurance is due to his craft; he's smart and sharp, playing with conventions and revealing the truths in their cliches, perhaps not even wittingly. Gilbert is hardly a savant -- there's a clear indication he knows what he's doing -- but he's not writing for an audience, he's inhabiting his time and speaking plainly and clearly, and that's why Just as I Am works so well; he's an outlaw with no desire to rebel, an insider who doesn't belong, so his music exists just outside of the perimeters of what is accepted and is all the more powerful for it. [A Platinum Edition added eight bonus tracks.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	05/18/2015
Label:	Valory
UPC:	0843930017614

Tracks

1. If You Want a Bad Boy
2. 17 Again
3. Bottoms Up
4. That Was Us
5. I'm Gone
6. My Baby's Guns N' Roses
7. Lights of My Hometown
8. One Hell of an Amen
9. Small Town Throwdown
10. Let It Ride
11. My Faith in You
12. G.R.I.T.S.
13. Read Me My Rights
14. Grown Ass Man
15. Bottoms Up [Remix]
16. Do What the Night Wants
17. Stone Cold Sober
18. Same Old Song
19. Just As I Am

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Brantley Gilbert   Primary Artist,Guitar (Acoustic)
T.I.   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Thomas Rhett   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Justin Moore   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Dann Huff   Bouzouki,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Everett Drake   Choir/Chorus
Jonathan Waggoner   Bass
Gordon Mote   Piano
Eric Darken   Percussion
Jonathan Yudkin   Strings
John Merlino   Guitar
Robert Bailey, Jr.   Choir/Chorus
Charlie Judge   Piano,Keyboards,Synthesizer
Ben Sims   Drums
Kyla Harris   Choir/Chorus
Elliot Huff   Drums
Paul Franklin   Guitar (Steel)
Chris McHugh   Drums
Vicki Hampton   Choir/Chorus
Wes Hightower   Choir/Chorus,Vocals (Background)
Jason Eskridge   Choir/Chorus
Wendy Moten   Choir/Chorus
Jess Franklin   Dobro,Guitar

Technical Credits

David Tolliver   Composer
Dann Huff   Producer
Drew Bollman   Mixing Assistant
Adam Ayan   Mastering
Steve Marcantonio   Engineer
Jonathan Yudkin   String Arrangements
Charlie Daniels   Cover Design,Graphic Design
Justin Weaver   Composer
Brett James   Composer
Tony Martin   Composer,Composer
Seth Morton   Assistant Engineer
Dallas Davidson   Composer
Scott Borchetta   Executive Producer
Ben Hayslip   Composer
Jordan Reed   Assistant Engineer
James Minchin   Photography
Jeremy Spillman   Composer
Brantley Gilbert   Composer,Additional Production
J. Bonilla   Programming
Sean Neff   Digital Editing
Becky Reiser   Cover Design
Nick Spezia   Engineer
Leann Bennett   Production Coordination
Forest Whitehead   Composer
Jasper Lemaster   Assistant Engineer
Brian Davis   Composer
Forrest Whitehead   Composer
Tina Daniels   Graphic Assistant
Forest Glen Whitehead   Composer
T.I.   Composer
Troy Verges   Composer
David Huff   Digital Editing,Loop Programming
Wendell Mobley   Composer
Wes Hightower   Engineer
Justin Niebank   Mixing
Jess Franklin   Composer
Ashley Gorley   Composer
Dan Layus   Composer
Rhett Akins   Composer
Mike Dekle   Composer
Mike Griffith   Production Coordination