How Gabby Barrett Focused on the Here and Now With New Single ‘Glory Days’

In her first three top 10 singles — “I Hope,” “The Good Ones” and “Pick Me Up” — Gabby Barrett addressed relationship issues in a midtempo framework that put greater emphasis on the storyline to elicit an emotional response.

With “Glory Days,” the first single from a forthcoming album, she continues to mine an interpersonal theme — though the production’s breezy feel, created by a gurgling musical track, puts a whole new bounce in her sonic step.

“It reminded me of kind of old-school Keith Urban — like ‘Somebody Like You’ or just kind of in that era,” Barrett notes of the foundational sound, developed by songwriter-producer Seth Mosley (“Make You Mine,” “Build a Boat”). “It just felt fun and it felt open, and I wanted something that was more upbeat.”
“Glory Days” has its creative roots in Barrett’s recent past. She recorded a duet version of “Build a Boat” with contemporary Christian artist Colton Dixon, released in January, that Mosley co-produced.

Meanwhile, she also recorded a song, “Dance Like No One’s Watchin’,” that was written by Luke Combs, Emily Weisband (“Jealous of Myself,” “Looking for You”) and James McNair (“Lovin’ On You,” “Going, Going, Gone”). Her reps engineered a writing session for March 16, with Barrett Zooming in from her Texas home to Mosley’s Nashville studio, where Weisband and McNair met up.

“Probably the most nerve-racking part of writing,” says McNair, “is never working with an artist before and not really knowing kind of, ‘Hey, what is she going to want to do today?’”

Even with Barrett calling in remotely, they were more than ready. Mosley had developed several musical vibes to pull from, and the Urban shades she sensed in the one she selected were on point with Mosley’s inspirations. “When I was building that track, playing the banjo thing, I was like, ‘Oh, what would Keith Urban do?,’ like a throwback kind of thing,” he says. “That was exactly where that started.”

As they discussed what lyrical messages might work, Weisband brought up a title she had introduced in other writing appointments, though it never quite landed. Bruce Springsteen had previously used “Glory Days” as the title of a bitterly nostalgic 1985 single, which might be one reason her earlier co-writers had passed on it. But Weisband had a more in-the-moment take on the idea, and Barrett, born in 2000, didn’t know the Boss’ song, which might have made her more receptive.

“As my parents get older and my siblings all grow up and move to their own places, I just don’t want to miss where I’m at,” says Weisband. “I don’t want to look back and wish I was back there because those are the good old days. I wanted to write a song about how now is the good old days, like we’re in the glory days now.”

That idea resonated with Barrett, who at age 23 is balancing two lives that many of her similarly aged peers have not experienced: She’s married with children on one hand and a bona fide hitmaker on the other. “I was blown away at kind of writing a song about what is happening right now in my life because I’m in the midst of it,” Barrett says. “I can write a snapshot of what that looks like.”

They got the chorus completed first, celebrating this moment in the big picture. They weaved plenty of images from her home life into the verses: catching fireflies in the yard, drinking coffee, reading the Bible and listening to her husband, Cade Foehner, play guitar. Barrett, of course, was writing from the location where all those things occur.

“Her being in her house, I think, especially inspired the second verse,” says Weisband. “I mean, we really tried to put her favorite parts of her life into the song. We really dove into her lifestyle and where she’s at in her life.”

Arguably, the most important line — “Livin’ right don’t cost a thing” — offered two meanings: one, the best things in life are free, and two, doing the right thing is always the right thing. “The best songs that we write are sometimes us writing to ourselves,” Mosley notes. “That’s the reminder, whenever that comes on. It’s something for me to have to live up to.”

The chorus and verses delivered the entire message, so they felt no compunction to give “Glory Days” a bridge. Instead, they left space for a guitar solo, crafting a chord progression that departs for just a few bars from the rest of the song for variation. Weisband sang the demo, which Mosley finished producing that day.

The demo was so well-conceived — from the opening, slappy toms to the a cappella, cold close — that producer Ross Copperman (Dierks Bentley, Kelsea Ballerini) stuck close to the road map on the final recording. He mostly layered in real musicians -— primarily bassist-guitarist Danny Rader and keyboardist Jeff Roach — one instrument at a time over programmed drums. And with Foehner’s guitar playing referenced in the lyrics, it only made sense that he created the guitar solo, though Copperman asked him to recut part of it, easing the listener into that section.

“I remember asking for some longer, sustained notes on the front of the solo,” says Copperman. “When he did that, it felt a little better.”

Weisband contributed scads of background vocals, including multiple unison tracks, harmonies and countermelodies, though they’re felt as reinforcements more than they’re heard in the final mix. “They’re kind of tucked in there under Gabby — I just really wanted it to be all about Gabby,” Copperman notes. “Dave Clauss is an incredible mixer, by the way. So good at just making the vocals smash up front.”

Copperman and Barrett, who co-produced the track, considered inserting a key change after the guitar solo, but scotched that idea as deadlines drew near. And in the final hours, Barrett insisted that the new banjo/guitar undertow they had developed wasn’t cutting it as well as Mosley’s original on the demo. Mosley was working in Stockholm, but he had with him the hard drive that housed the “Glory Days” demo and sent the tracks around 1:00 a.m., which meant 6:00 p.m. in Nashville. Barrett and Copperman delivered “Glory Days” just in time for Warner Music Nashville to get it processed for official release on June 12.

“Thematically, it’s kind of nice to have something a little bit more hopeful — especially in the landscape where all these breakup songs and darker songs are working right now, like the Bailey Zimmerman kind of songs and ‘Wait in the Truck,’ ” says McNair. “It’s kind of nice to have a little bit of a contrast on radio, and I hope that’s going to be one of the reasons why they play the heck out of it.”

Barrett’s “Glory Days” debuted on the Country Airplay chart dated June 24. It checks in at No. 33 in its fourth week on the list.

“I did not want to come out with another midtempo or ballad,” Barrett says. “It’s summer, so I really was eager to release something that was uptempo and fun and make people smile.”