Dierks Bentley’s ‘Riser’ Debuts at No. 1

Dierks Bentley's latest album, 'Riser,' rose quickly to the top, debuting at No. 1 on the charts.

The Arizona native, who co-wrote six of the 12 songs on the project, admits he was a bit nervous about his latest set of tunes, which were a bit of a departure from his previous records.

“I think every record I’ve made has always been a Polaroid snapshot of where I was at that place in time when I made it,” Bentley explains. “But this particular album just has a lot of scenery in the picture. There’s a lot that’s gone on the last two years — more so than any other time in my life. I mean, you look at some of the bookends of making this record . . . my dad passing away at the start of the process, and then my son, Knox, being born at the end of the process. So it was unexpected.”

The 38-year-old reached out to producer Ross Copperman to record this latest album, which was done in Copperman's home studio, instead of an elaborate studio on Music Row. While that decision was a risky one, Bentley says it worked out exactly the way he had hoped.

“It’s the sound in my head that I hear when I’m playing a live show,” he notes. “You have one ear monitor in, one ear out, and the crowd’s there and your voice feels really great. There’s a certain amount of gravel to it because you’re tired, but you’re all jacked up on whatever you’re drinking and adrenaline, and the crowds and the fans are there and there’s this feeling, fists in the air — it’s that thing that’s hard to transfer into a studio environment. There’s a rawness.”

This is Bentley's fifth time to debut at the top of the charts. He will head overseas next week for shows in Dublin and London before he kicks off his 2014 Riser Tour in May, with Chris Young, Chase Rice and Jon Pardi serving as his opening acts.

See a list of upcoming shows here, and download 'Riser' here.