Dierks Bentley, ‘Sideways’ — Story Behind the Song

'Sideways,' Dierks Bentley's 12th career single and second from 'Feel That Fire,' his fourth studio album, was co-written by Bentley and Jim Beavers. Bentley released the song in March 2009, and the tune hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in July of the same year. It was Bentley's seventh No. 1; he tells The Boot how it came to be.

'Sideways' is a really fun song. I learned a lot from the record before with 'Free and Easy' -- sometimes it doesn't take your most creative work to make a hit.

Not to slight that song, but a lot of times, I write songs that are really massive and have these choruses that could mean so many different things to so many different people, like 'Long Trip Alone.' And I learned on 'Free and Easy' that it is alright to put a song out there that people love and have fun listening to in their car.

I wrote 'Sideways' on an airplane on the way to a gig and finished it with a friend of mine back in Nashville. Its just great to have a song out there that people can listen to and get away from their troubles a little bit and have fun.