Brantley Gilbert doesn’t need the Thanksgiving holiday to be grateful. The 39-year-old has a lot to be thankful for this year, especially after the surprise arrival of his third child, son Abram Howell Gilbert, while he was performing in Mississippi last month on his Off The Rails Tour
“I mean, to be completely honest, I can’t turn in any direction right now and not see something I’m thankful for,” Gilbert reflects. “I’ve got way too much to be thankful for. I spend a lot of time having to talk myself out of the thought that I don’t deserve this or that of the other. In my heart of hearts, I’ll never really probably be able to make peace with that. But I don’t really know why God continues to bless me. I guess all I can try to do is pay it forward. But I feel like Thanksgiving’s every day right now.”
When Abram arrived, Gilbert’s wife Amber had joined him on the road, unaware that she was going to have to give birth on her husband’s bus. The “Over When We’re Sober” singer has high praise for the way the mother of his children handled the unexpected delivery.
“[Amber] was a soldier – such an understatement,” Gilbert recalls, calling her the “strongest woman I’ve ever met.” “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. She was just so strong. I was such an emotional wreck, it was ridiculous. She handled it a million times better than I did.”
Gilbert had just started his concert when he paused the show to welcome his youngest child.
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“We were four songs into the set, and my tour manager comes up and pulls on my arm,” Gilbert recounts on Audacy’s Katie + Company, adding that he didn’t expect the news to be about his own family. “The first thing that came to mind is, ‘It’s a security threat.’ He looked at me, and he gave me a stern like, ‘Come on.’ He was like, ‘Baby.’ He mouthed ‘baby’ to me and when he did, I dropped the mic and everything and took off running.”
“The minute I walked on the bus, I washed my hands really quick, and the minute I knelt beside her, her water broke,” he adds. “I looked at the midwife, and she looked back at me, and I was just wide-eyed. She’s like, ‘We’re having a baby.’”
Gilbert also shared details of his son’s arrival on social media, along with a first look at the infant.
“So last night might have been the craziest night of my life,” Gilbert posted. “Watching such an amazing woman do such an amazing thing is something I’ll never forget. Thank you to our road family for rallying around us, Brittany Thornton for helping us bring this little dude into the world, Tupelo, Mississippi for showing us mad love and support, and most of all… Amber Gilbert, for letting me love you and showing me EXACTLY how incredibly strong a woman can be. I love you.”
Find all of Gilbert’s music and upcoming shows at BrantleyGilbert.com.
Photo Credit: Brian Vaughan