Gabby Barrett returns home for postgame concert at PNC Park

Aug. 10—At 23, country singer Gabby Barrett is in her glory days.

That's the name of her latest single, which she'll sing during a Friday concert in PNC Park, following the Pirates game against the Cincinnati Reds.

The concert is included in all tickets for the game, which starts at 7:05 p.m.

"Glory Days" talks about the simple pleasures of Barrett's daily life, saying, "This is as good as it gets/I don't know what I would change/I love this life that we live."

The Munhall native and "American Idol" veteran says she is blessed by her burgeoning music career and a family, including husband Cade Foehner, a fellow musician, and two young children.

"When I was in the writing process, I remembered my parents saying, 'Oh, those were the good old days, the glory days,' " Barrett said. "It's always seen as something you look back on, but I was thinking, 'Oh my goodness, I'm in the midst of the glory days.'

"With everything happening with family and career, and in this phase of raising small children in a loud house, I'm in my glory days right now."

The song will be on her upcoming sophomore album, a follow-up to "Goldmine" from 2020.

"It was a fun, touching song to write, and I absolutely love performing it live," Barrett said. "It goes with the theme of my next album, which is very much about where I'm at in life. I think people will get to know me better from what it speaks about."

The ballpark crowd will hear two or three songs from the new album.

Barrett is no stranger to PNC Park. Starting as a preteen, she sang the national anthem for the Pirates several times. Friday's show will be her first concert there.

"I'm super pumped about the show," Barrett said. "When the offer came in, I immediately wanted to do it. PNC Park is one of the first places I ever sang."

Country with an edge

Barrett first performed with a Homestead church's gospel choir from ages 9 to 11.

Her early musical influences included the '80s hair bands and R&B songs that her dad favored, along with the pop music her mom preferred.

"After I started to sing the national anthem for the Pirates and started to do my own shows, I was searching myself — as much as I could at 11 and 12 — about what I liked and wanted to sing," Barrett said. "That definitely landed in country music."

Hearing Miranda Lambert, Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood on the radio led her to explore country legends such as Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.

"I had a large map of influences, but, when I honed it into what I really liked, it ended up being country — but more of an edgier kind of country," she said.

In 2020, Barrett was named Billboard's top new country artist. She has won numerous American Music, American Country Music and CMT Music awards.

She was the first female country artist to top 10 million streams in a single week.

In 2020, the music trade publication Hits dubbed Barrett "the face of Gen-Z country."

"I appreciate it — that's very flattering — but I wouldn't categorize myself as that," she said. "I'm not that cool."

Barrett and Foehner make their home in Nashville but spend time in his native east Texas. When she's on the road, he and the kids go along.

They met in 2018 during Season 16 of "American Idol," where he missed the Top 5 cut and she came in third. They married the following year.

Foehner inspired "The Good Ones," a song from "Goldmine" that spent three weeks atop Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.

"Something I'm really thankful for with him is that we are very compatible musically," Barrett said. "We really do work on everything pretty much together.

"Even on the upcoming album, 90% of the guitar solos you'll hear are Cade," she said. "He's very involved in everything I do, and he adds a lot of value to everything I do."

Barrett last came through Western Pennsylvania last summer with Jason Aldean, on an Aug. 16 tour stop at Star Lake Pavilion in Burgettstown.

When she's in the area and time allows, Barrett likes to visit Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, along with other old haunts.

"I'll be popping around visiting some places during the day," she said. "Keep an eye open. You might see me on the sidewalk. You never know."

Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .