Gabby Barrett on Daughter’s First Words and Hosting the ACM Awards

Country singer Gabby Barrett was the recipient of Billboard’s 2022 Rising Star Award!

“Extra’s” Katie Krause spoke with Gabby at Wednesday night’s Billboard Women in Music Event, where she discussed her hosting gig with Dolly Parton at the 2022 ACM Awards.

Dolly and Gabby have not met in person yet, only connected through Zoom. Sharing her excitement about meeting Dolly, she said, “I know she’s gonna blow me away.”

When asked who inspires her in the music industry, Gabby did not hesitate to say Dolly, who is “one of the reasons I got into country music.”

Calling Dolly a “class act,” Barrett went on, “She is an amazing songwriter who writes songs that are genuine to her life and her story, so that inspires me with my music.”

She also revealed that Dolly’s songs “I Will Always Love You” and “Jolene” are her favorites.

Katie suggested Gabby tell Dolly that personally, she quipped, “If I can get it out, I will.”

Gabby, who is “as prepared” as she can be, teased about the star-studded show, “We have performances going on.”

Gabby also gave an update on her 1-year-old daughter Baylah’s latest milestones, gushing, “She's talking. She's close to walking… She can walk a couple steps but then she'll fall,” Gabby elaborated, “Her balance isn't the best right now.”

Barrett admitted, “She's very clingy right now so it's hard to leave her, but she's just ‘Mama’ all the time.”

Baylah is Gabby and husband Cade Foehner's first child together.

Baylah isn’t the only thing that has changed in her life! She reflected on the past few years, saying, “I've been performing on the road since I was 11, ended up on ‘American idol’ when I was 17 and then came off ‘Idol’ and had to kind of start back at ground zero because you don't just shoot up from a television show, you know, so I had to go back to the grind, build it all up, and now we're here.”

Keeping it real, she pointed out, “I think it's just sometimes falsely understood, you know, that you get on award shows and you come off and everything's set for you, but it's actually the opposite.”

Barrett is gearing up to tour with Jason Aldean. She dished, “We're getting ready… forming kind of our stage and what we want our setup to be on the stage and just making it the best we can.”