You might hear a softer, happier Brantley Gilbert on his next album. Or at least on part of it.

Brantley tells Country Weekly that all of his albums, so far, have chronicled particular eras in his life. "Modern Day Prodigal Son covered a chapter of my life from pretty much the day I was born all the way through high school," he says. "Halfway to Heaven—I had where [Prodigal Son] left off to where I was at that point in my life. And with this one, we started with 250-something songs and whittled it down to about 35. . . . We'd have the little badass thing going on, and the edge. That's me, though. But it shows a little bit of that other side as well."

The other side? Yep, Brantley may still be a tough guy, but he's a tough guy with a tender heart for his female friend, Jana Kramer. In fact, as we previously reported, he sat with her during her recent hospitalization.

Referring back to the album, Brantley adds, "I'm a really happy man right now, so there will definitely be a song about the current situation I'm in."