We have covered many drunk driving accidents in previous posts and also several car accidents involving celebrities. One musician who has made quite a name for himself among Nashville's country music elite says that a truck accident led him to pursue his career in music. That musician is country music star Brantley Gilbert, whose most recent hit song is titled "Country Must Be Country Wide."
Gilbert says that he was 19 years old when the accident occurred. Gilbert had been drinking when he drove off of a highway and flipped his car. Everything about the accident indicates that the country star should have died: a speeding, drunk teen driver who was probably not wearing a seat belt. However Gilbert was bizarrely fortunate to survive this accident. He was ejected from the back of his truck, flipped in the air several times and landed on his feet.
"I stumbled about three steps and then fell," the country star says.
The first driver to happen upon the crash site died shortly thereafter in another car accident, which prompted Gilbert to believe that this survival was a divine sign. Gilbert decided to drop out of college and pursue a music career. He began touring throughout the south, built an audience, and then became a name in Nashville circles when country stars such as Jason Aldean and Colt Ford recorded his songs.
It should be stressed that Gilbert's situation is unusual and that most drunk Nashville drivers do not have similar luck. The majority of Nashville drunk driving accidents that involve speeding drivers who are not properly restrained result in severe personal injuries or deaths so the importance of driving sober and buckled up should not be forgotten.
Source: Montreal Gazette, "Truck crash guided Brantley Gilbert to music career," John P. McLaughlin, Oct. 4, 2011