Brantley Gilbert on Having a Baby During His Show

It was a wild weekend on the road for Brantley Gilbert who welcomed his third child with wife, Amber, in the middle of a show in Tupelo, MS. Days later, Gilbert joined Audacy’s Katie Neal to share the whole story and praise Amber for her courage and strength. “She’s the strongest woman I’ve ever met, I can’t say enough about her,” he said, still in disbelief of the events. According to Gilbert, he was just four songs into his headlining set when his tour manager walked on stage and pulled at his arm telling him to exit. “We were four songs into the set and my tour manager comes up and pull on my arm… the first thing that came to mind is, ‘it’s a security threat,’” Brantley recalled, sharing he immediately had concern to take care of his bandmates and the crowd. “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 39-year-old had no time to spare as he walked onto the bus and almost immediately, Amber’s water broke. “The minute I walked on the bus, I washed my hands really quick and the minute I knelt beside her, her water broke,” Gilbert shared. “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.’” The situation is one Brantley said he and Amber had joked about before, but never actually thought could come true. “We joked that if it happened during a show, I’ll just hop off stage, we’ll have it and I’ll run back up there and I’ll hold the baby up like Lion King, like Simba... none of us thought that was actually going to happen.” While it did happen (minus the Lion King part), Gilbert credits his wife for keeping her cool and birthing their third child, Abram Howell, like a “soldier.” “She was a soldier - such an understatement,” he said. “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.” Following the events, Gilbert says mom and baby are doing just fine. “They’re amazing,” he shared. “He’s tiny. He’s 5lb 7oz - he’s got the cutest little cry ever, but he’s precious.” Hear the full story of Abram’s entry into the world by checking out Katie Neal’s full conversation with Brantley Gilbert above. Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal