Brantley Gilbert Grateful to Jason Aldean for Introducing His Songs to Country Radio

ValoryBrantley Gilbert is up for New Artist of the Year at the CMA Awards this coming Thursday, and he's also partly responsible for helping Jason Aldean get a Single of the Year nomination with "Dirt Road Anthem." Brantley co-wrote that song, as well as "My Kinda Party," and he's grateful to Jason for helping introduce his musical style to country radio.

"Having Jason cover those songs really helped us out a lot," Brantley tells the Lexington Herald-Leader. "We were at a point in our career where having me release a song like "Dirt Road Anthem" would have been insane. We needed somebody with Jason's status to push that song to where it could go."

Brantley still holds on to those songs, even though Jason was the one who made them hits on the country chart.  He explains, "I still play them every night. So it's not like I gave them away or sold them to somebody. They're still my babies."

Look for Brantley to appear on the 46th Annual CMA Awards airing Thursday night at 8 ET on ABC.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio