Dierks Bentley

[Kim]

Dierks Bentley Eyes Late Summer or Early Fall for 2011 Album Release

By: Nashville Kat
tasteofcountry.com


Dierks Bentley has a new album in the works, and his latest update is that it “probably won’t come out until late summer, early fall,” according to an interview with Soundspike. He recorded the majority of the new songs in an impressive five days, but explains there’s “still lots to do. We did the majority of the tracking. We just need to add a fiddle here and there, change some things up here and there. There are a lot of little tweaks that need to be done to make it just right.”

Bentley says he wrote ”50 to 60 songs and with some of the best songwriters in town” for this upcoming project, but the hard task was deciding which would make the album. “I tried to narrow those down,” says Bentley, “and also listened to about 2,000 songs personally, and tried to whittle it all down to the top 20, 25 and take those in there and put out the top 11 or 12.”

As for the album’s title, the ‘Am I The Only One‘ singer admits, “I don’t have a name for it yet. I’m still working on it. I’m still trying to figure it all out.” While he recorded most of the tunes in February, he says, “Now that we’re on the road, I’m going back and forth here and there trying to do the overdubs and fix it up a little bit.”

The country star says he gets inspired to write songs when coming off the road from touring. “Then you’re always thinking of a song title or an idea,” he says. “I go into that mode.” As for how much time he spent writing tunes for the project, Bentley adds, ”A lot. About a hundred days’ worth of writing.”

Bentley is currently out (and getting pranked) on his Jagermeister Tour, with his next stops being in Akron, Ohio on May 5 and Detroit, Mich. on May 6.

[grg_straitfan]

OFFSTAGE: Why Dierks Bentley Loves the Grammys
February 10, 2012; Written by Alison Bonaguro

(CMT Offstage keeps a 24/7 watch on everything that's happening with country music artists behind the scenes and out of the spotlight.)

Dierks Bentley just told me about a new Grammy idea he has. "I'm enacting a new rule next year: if you're been nominated for 12 Grammys, they automatically give you one," he said. Maybe that's because he has been nominated for 10 so far.

Bentley was in Chicago last night (Feb. 9) for a sold-out show and we got to catch up on everything he's doing to celebrate the release of his new album, Home. For example he's getting together with Miranda Lambert to present the country album of the year at the Grammys on Sunday night.

"I'd be happy for any of those folks to win. I'm really excited to go out there and just be part of someone's big moment," he said.

But the other reason he loves going to the Grammys is, obviously, for the music. He said it's like the best concert of all time and he is dying to see the Foo Fighters. Yet he wasn't always this open-minded.

"From the age of 17 to about 29, I was militant about country music and bluegrass. That's all I would listen to. I got into Hank Jr. at 17. Before that, from 13 to 17, it was all Van Halen, then even Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Pearl Jam and some Black Sabbath," he told me.

"But when I found Hank, all those CDs were just gone. A friend of mine played me a Hank song called 'Man to Man,' which starts off with great guitar solo. I'm 17, and this guy's singing about beer and naked girls, and I was like, 'This is the music I want to be listening to.' So I pushed all those other CDs aside. It had to be country all the time," he said.

"But then at around 29, I opened doors to other music again," he added. "So now I go to Grammys and I'm way into anything that's different. I love our format but I'm very open to other things now because I know who I am."

[Kim]

Dierks Bentley's 'Home' Leaves Dozens of Songs in the Cold


Dierks Bentley recently celebrated the No. 1 debut of his latest album, 'Home,' but the singer admits there was a time he wasn't sure if the new CD would ever even see the light of day. After the success of his critically acclaimed bluegrass record, 'Up on the Ridge,' the Arizona native wanted to return to mainstream country for his next set of tunes, however he was initially unsure of what direction to take.

"I wrote too many songs," Dierks shares with The Republic. "I wrote 70. I wrote a lot. There's 64 that are never going to see the light of day. That's 64 days that I can't get back."

The 36-year-old actually thought he had recorded enough tunes for his new album, but after playing them night after night with his fans, he realized he was heading in the wrong direction. To make matters worse, he had to break the news to his label, Capitol Records, that he was back at square one.

"I was like, 'Sorry. Can we write that off as pre-production?'" he recalls. "I'll pay for it."

Thankfully, the head of his label, Mike Dungan, was supportive of Dierks heading back into the studio, but insisted he finish his album in a short amount of time. Undeterred, the singer-songwriter began searching in earnest for the right songs, even if they weren't ones he wrote.

"To me, it's kind of like a hockey game," he notes. "We want to get that win. I'm not sure how we get it, but we want to walk off that stage feeling like, 'Yeah!'"

Clearly, the new batch worked. In addition to topping the album charts, the title track, which is also the first single, is in the Top 5 and still climbing. 'Home,' which is one of six songs on the album that Dierks co-wrote, was admittedly a challenge to finish.

"[It was] like, 'Wow, we're definitely gonna bite off a big one here,'" Dierks says, recalling the writing sessions for 'Home.' "This is a tough song to finish the right way that isn't polarizing, isn't chest-beating, [but] is relatable to everybody. It's such a diverse country, and you want something that reaches out to everybody. At the end of the day, when we were writing the song, once we started getting into it -- you want this to be inspiring and hopeful, but also address the realities of what's going on."

Dierks is currently in the middle of the 2012 leg of his Country & Cold Cans tour, with the Eli Young Band, Will Hoge and Cadillac Black splitting opening act duties.

[Kim]

Dierks Bentley Was Apprehensive About Writing “Home”


Dierks Bentley’s “Home” has climbed to the top of both the Mediabase/Country Aircheck and Billboard country singles charts. Dierks wrote the song with pal Brett Beavers and new collaborator, Dan Wilson, and he said going into the writing session, they didn’t have a clue about what to write. When he had to leave for a brief time to assist his wife with a car issue, he came back and found that the other two had come up with a beautiful melody. However, when Dan suggested a patriotic song, Dierks was a bit apprehensive, “You know, I wrote about 70 songs last year, and I feel like that’s one of those songs, those moments that you can’t calculate it. I came into that writing meeting with nothing. Brett [Beavers] had nothing. Dan Wilson had nothing. We were going to write for two days, so we figured that first day, let’s get to know each other and see what’s going on. I was kind of out of ideas. I mean, it’s hard to write that much throughout an entire year and listen to that many songs. The stockpile runs out, you know?”

“[So] we were hanging out for about an hour, getting to know each other, and my wife called, battery’s dead. Typical — that car of hers. I went over and jumped her car, came back over, and Brett and Dan had started this melody, and I thought it was beautiful. Dan had said something about America. He kept thinking, ‘This song feels like America.’ And I was like, ‘Aw man, writing a patriotic song is so difficult. Let’s not do that. Those songs are too hard to write.’ Brett said something about ‘Home,’ and then I think I said something like, ‘the place we all call home.’ Maybe we could write a song about America that’s not overly in your face about it, you know, something that everyone could grab a hold of and feel inspired by. The recession was in full board at this point a year ago, the political nature of this country was as bad as it’s ever been with, basically, Washington D.C. being turned into a football game between two sides and not caring about the fans, the voters, the public at all, just their own internal thing going on there. It’s about now, but it’s a little bit of a history lesson too about what we’ve been through. And at the end of the day, I think it’s inspiring and hopeful, and it’s been a real blessing of a song and one that none of us really could take too much credit for, just inspiration hit. You write that many songs over the course of a year, you might get one of those moments, and we got one with this song.”

Contact: [e-mail]

[grg_straitfan]

Dierks Bentley Eventim Apollo Hammersmith, London live review


Dierks Bentley is without a doubt one of the biggest artists in Country music. With 14 number one singles under his belt, his latest single Somewhere on a Beach currently at the top of the US Hot Country Songs chart, he continues to build on his success with every album he releases. His eighth studio album Black arrives on 27th May and the collection promises to be his most varied yet. Last night UK fans got their first taste of the record as Dierks performed several cuts during his Somewhere on a Beach tour, which arrived at the Eventim Apollo in London.

Whatever my expectations were going into the show last night, I can safely say I was completely blown away by Dierks. Not only did he deliver a set that celebrated his entire career so far, he possesses a natural showmanship that few other artists could replicate. His set opened with the bluegrass gem Up on the Ridge from his 2010 album of the same name. It was a high energy start to the night and to be honest the energy never let up, not even during the evening’s slower songs.

In part playing like a greatest hits set, Dierks’ show took the opportunity to introduce fans to some new cuts from forthcoming album Black. Somewhere on a Beach was an obvious highlight of the evening and his solo rendition of I’ll Be the Moon, which features Maren Morris on the recorded version, was pretty special to witness. Other songs from the new record included the moody title track Black, the soaring Freedom and the morning after hangover panic of What the Hell Did I Say, which I’m hoping is a single in the near future.

With so many music legends passing recently, Dierks stopped to pay tribute to Prince but explained he wasn’t going to attempt to cover one of the purple one’s classic hits. Instead he paid tribute to the late Merle Haggard by performing a cover of The Running Kind. It’s easy to see how Dierks has been influenced by Haggard and it was a touching moment during the evening.

Elsewhere in the set the raucous 5-1-5-0 was an absolute blast, the stirring I Hold On had the crowd swaying, and Say You Do was one of the biggest sing-a-long moments of the night. Dierks took us all the way back to the beginning with a fantastic rendition of What Was I Thinkin’ and he performed fan favourite Riser, which had been omitted from earlier shows much to the dismay of his fans. The set came to a close with the catchy Drunk on a Plane, which was a fitting end to a fantastic evening of live music.

Watching Dierks perform live is a pretty special thing. Alongside the fantastic songs, Dierks sounded fantastic and his band was super tight. Throughout the night Dierks took the time to interact with fans even crowd surfing at one point much to the delight of a very grabby bunch of fans near the front. He also pulled someone up from the audience to do a shot of Patron early on in the set.

As I left the venue last night my over-riding thought was ‘when is Dierks coming back to play again?’ His show is one of the best I’ve seen of any genre with high energy and lots of great music. There are few performers that can hold a crowd the way that he did last night and I hope it’s not too long before he’s back performing for his UK fans again. If you’ve yet to seem him live, cancel all your plans and make sure you catch him next time he’s over.

Set List: 1. Up on the Ridge 2. Free and Easy 3. Tip It On Back 4. Am I the Only One 5. 5-1-5-0 6. Say You Do 7. What the Hell Did I Say 8. I Hold On 9. Every Mile a Memory 10. Riser 11. Freedom 12. The Running Kind (Merle Haggard cover) 13. Lot of Leavin’ to Do 14. Black 15. Somewhere on a Beach 16. What Was I Thinkin’ 17. Sideways 18. I’ll Be the Moon 19. Drunk on a Plane Performance Date: 22nd April 2016


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