Bradley Gaskin Opens Up About His Decade-Long Journey Back To Country Music And Debut Album, ‘Unfinished Business’

Bradley Gaskin’s debut album, Unfinished Business, has officially arrived, and for the country singer/songwriter, the record has been a long time coming. It was over a decade ago that the Alabama native had initially made plans to put out a full-length project. 

But that project was never released. 

And that wasn’t his fault. 

For some backstory, Gaskin first rose to prominence with “Mr. Bartender” — a self-penned track that made its way into the Top 40 charts in 2011. While, at the time, his career showed promise, his debut project wound up getting shelved due to a major label shakeup that ended with him losing his deal. But without a label home, Gaskin continued to write songs for other artists. However, his luck of getting his songs cut ran out. 

“I got to a point where nobody was recording my music. So I thought, ‘Well. What should I do? I think I’ll just go back to doing what I was doing before I got to Nashville,” Gaskin recalled during an interview with Country Now. “So I went back to work drywalling with my dad. I worked at a sawmill and then as a janitor at my little girl’s elementary school at Duck Springs Elementary School.” 

Gaskin said he spent five years performing odd jobs back home before fate stepped in. A fan-turned-friend named Jack Cole was in the process of building a music venue near Destin, Florida. He delivered a pitch that Gaskin couldn’t refuse. Gaskin took up the offer to be an opening act for the establishment, which allowed him to play the songs of his choice each year from March to September. But, that deal got even better. In 2022, Gaskin signed on as the flagship artist for Cole’s independently launched 30A Life Records. 

“[The venue] was the only reason for me to come back and do music…. This wasn’t something to try to be back on country radio or be on tours and doing shows,” Gaskin acknowledged. “It was just to get back to singing music and playing this venue when it opens up, and everything took off further than we expected.”

Today, Gaskin is back on country radio with his previously released track “Accidently Drunk,” which serves as the lead single on Unfinished Business. Also not part of his initial plan, the rising artist found himself working with Grammy award-winning producer Keith Stegall, who helmed the project. 

“He’s produced every one of my heroes and been a part of their careers from Alan Jackson to Randy Travis,” Gaskin beamed of getting to work alongside Stegall. “When I started working with him…. I point-blank asked him, ‘Why do you want to work with me when you don’t have to? You’ve done this with everybody. I took a break coming back. I’m kinda rusty. Why would you want to work with somebody like me?’ He said, ‘Because I believe you, and I want to help you tell the story you never got to. When he said that to me, it was believable. As artists, we hear many things at times, and not everything you hear is real. I can say, when he told me things, it’s the truth.” 

At Stegall’s suggestion, Gaskin cut “Accidently Drunk,” which embodies the idea of trying to stay sober through the pain of getting over an ex. Already, the track, co-written by Ashley McBryde, Justin Ebach, and Dan Smalley, has made a significant impact, becoming the top 10 most added to country radio at the first of the month. 

“[He] found it, and sent it to me and said, ‘Hey man, I think this song is right up your alley.’ I fell in love with it, and we’ve been playing it out and performing it and have had a great response,” Gaskin said of the track. “It’s always good when you’re putting something out there and people love it. If they like that one, I feel like I know my fans pretty well. If they’re liking and loving this song, there’s a lot for them to fall in love with on this record.” 

Gaskin also sat down to collaborate with Stegall for a song on the record. The two, along with Cole, penned the inspirational “Stronger Than You Think,” which features delicate guitar and piano. The ballad shares a positive message that goes: “When the world is on your shoulder / When you’re backed up in a corner  / When your hopes and dreams / Yeah they’re all about to sink / Don’t give up / You’re stronger than you think.” 

“He knew my whole backstory of when I first came to Nashville and how I went back home…So he told me personal experiences about his life, and I was telling him more about mine,” Gaskin recalled the co-writing session for “Stronger Than You Think.” “He said, ‘Man, I’ve been thinking about this idea, and I have a title called ‘Stronger Than You Think.’ It’s a song about adversity, and about when you’re getting beat down in life, you are stronger than you think at the end.” 

“Everybody wants to give up at times,” Gaskin continued. “Covid was a big thing, and my dad experienced NBS bone marrow cancer, and my father-in-law got it, and some other folks were going through different things. I remember hearing other people’s stories and what they were facing, and we just started writing songs about overcoming things because sometimes you don’t feel like you’re fighting back. [Many]people want to give up, but through faith, God, and perseverance, you’re fighting through it.” 

Of the 10 tracks on Unfinished Business, Gaskin co-wrote six, while four of the tunes on the record were songs he had planned on cutting years ago when he first intended on releasing an album. One of those four is the spiritual-leaning “Pray To God,” written by Wade Kirby, Ashley Gorley, and Bill Luther. 

“I try to find those songs that speak to me that I feel I can convey that message. That happened with ‘Pray For God.’ I recorded that years ago and never got to put it out. I feel like it was always a message that should be out there,” Gaskin noted. “To have some of these songs on the record, songs I’ve written or songs like ‘Pray For God,’ it’s crazy to have them on there because at times years ago I didn’t think anyone was ever going to hear them. Now, to know that someone is finally going to hear them is surreal for me.” 

Elsewhere on the album, listeners get a mix of light-hearted, fast-fiddle with the beer-chugging anthem “Bad Day To Be A Beer.” Meanwhile, “Country Ain’t Cool” sonically delivers a more modern approach in contrast to some of the heavier traditional-leaning tracks on the record. Out of each of the 10 songs on Unfinished Business, Gaskin says his favorite is the closing track “Without Her.” The song, written with Joshua Plez Gaskin, finds Gaskin throwing all of his emotion into the heartfelt lyrics as he sings about missing the love of his life after a breakup. 

“I wrote that back in 2013 with my best friend in the world, and it’s just a song about not being able to get over the girl,” Gaskin explained. “It happened quickly when he and I wrote it, and it felt good and it’s crazy to see how a song can get written sitting down at the dinner table and turn into a full-blown song on a brand new record.” 

He continued, “I grew up listening to country music because I’m a huge George Jones, Keith Whitley, and Merle Haggard fan, all those guys, and I love songs that speak to me. It’s crazy. But sad songs are my favorite songs. I’m a ballad person, and that’s what I love, and writing something like ‘Without Her’ is the kind of message in a song that I love singing as an artist.”

Gaskin, who spent a little over two years laying down the final touches on Unfinished Business, celebrated the release of his debut album with a performance at AJ’s Good Time Bar in Nashville, where he treated a packed crowd to the entirety of the record with a full band. The selected venue for Gaskin’s comeback into country music has — in a sense — brought him full circle. 

Reflecting on his past and seeing where he is today, Gaskin says, “As bad as it hurt, and how hard it was for me to walk away from something that I fell in love with, which was Nashville and country music, being right there and having it happen, and then to walk away, it brings in a lot of unwanted feelings, emotions. You’re sad, heartbroken, angry. You feel like you didn’t get to do what you went there to do. But there was always a fire there that I couldn’t put out.”

“I didn’t know how it was going to happen, when, or even if, but I had always had this thought that maybe I’d go back at some point. I just didn’t know how or when,” he says. “During the lowest parts of myself, in my career, and music, is when I got a call from Jack Cole. He put some gas on the fire and caused a blaze. So when he did, I took all those emotions of sadness and heartbreak and put it all in my drive to start writing and performing again. I made my mind up to be a better Bradley Gaskin than I was years ago.” 

Track List (songwriters in parentheses)

1. “Accidentally Drunk” (Dan Smalley, Justin Ebach, Ashley McBryde)
2. “‘Bout Damn Did” (Lee Starr, Landon Parker, Ryan Rossebo)
3. “My Side of Town” (Bradley Gaskin, Brice Long, Terry McBride)
4. “Bad Day To Be a Beer” (Bradley Gaskin and Jason Cambron)
5. “Country Ain’t Cool” (Zach Dyer, Jeremy Bussey, Brock Berryhill, Josh Hoge)
6. “Stronger Than You Think” (Bradley Gaskin, Robert Keith Stegall, Jack Cole)
7. “Cry Me a River” (Bradley Gaskin, Brice Long, Terry McBride)
8. “Pray for God” (Wade Kirby, Ashley Gorley, Bill Luther)
9. “Bumpin’ Buckles” (Bradley Gaskin, Jack Cole)
10. “Without Her” (Bradley Gaskin, Joshua Plez Gaskin)