Celebrate 4/20 With Brantley Gilbert’s Pot-Friendly ‘Welcome to Hazeville’
Brantley Gilbert's not afraid to celebrate an illicit holiday. The "What Happens In a Small Town" singer just dropped the marijuana-friendly "Welcome to Hazeville," featuring his good friend Colt Ford, as well as Willie and Lukas Nelson.
The Nelsons bookend the beat-heavy, hazy country cut, with Willie Nelson adding what amounts to a tag line at the very end. Ford — who also co-wrote the song with Gilbert, Rodney Clawson and Andrew DeRoberts — adds a rap breakdown midway through that reminds the listener you're either with them or you're not.
"(Whoa) Blow smoke, like fire to a hay field /(Whoa) Welcome to Hazeville /(Whoa) See it rising from that shine still / (Whoa) Welcome to Hazeville," Gilbert sings at the chorus.
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In 2017 the 34-year-old outlaw country singer told Taste of Country he doesn't like to use the word sober when talking how he overcame addiction because he still smokes marijuana. Willie Nelson is perhaps country's best-known proponent of weed. Ford's relationship with pot is less clear, but he's pretty convincing on this song.
Earlier this year Gilbert told Taste of Country how Ford tagged along with him on a cruise and the two were able to write and hang out like the old days. Both were thrust into the mainstream in 2010 when Jason Aldean recorded "Dirt Road Anthem," a song Ford and Gilbert wrote with the "Bottoms Up" singer adding it to an early independent project.
It's not clear if "Welcome to Hazeville" will be on Gilbert's upcoming studio album. His single "What Happens In a Small Town" features Lindsay Ell.
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