Dierks Bentley Says ‘Black’ Is ‘About Looking Back’
On May 27, Dierks Bentley will release his eighth studio album, Black. During a recent media event, the singer offered up some tidbits about the project to The Boot and other reporters.
"I’m really excited about the record," Bentley says. "... It would be nice if the singles follow the story of the album, but I look at a record like a book. Right now, we just released Chapter 12, and then the next single’s going to be Chapter 3. It’s like, you can’t really get a vibe off the album."
Black follows Bentley's 2014 release, the No. 1 Riser. The singer says that his previous record "was more of a personal journey," while his upcoming disc "feels more about looking back with [my wife] Cass, the last 10 years, being married and ups and downs and the craziness of the last 10 years."
"I think it has some intrigue to it, some mystery to it," Bentley notes. "Hopefully when all of the singles get out there, we’ll tell a story. I’m making an album, making a record."
Although the Arizona native understands that listeners are sometimes drawn to just buying singles, he tries to tell a cohesive story with each of his projects.
"I love making albums. I love making records, and I love when people buy the whole album, and I would encourage that," Bentley says. "At the same time, if someone wants to go buy a single, I’m not going to fault them for buying a single, too. I’d like to have my cake and eat it too ... I feel like it could be a really interesting record and have some nice, unexpected twists and turns."
Bentley will also hit the road on his Somewhere on a Beach Tour this year, with Randy Houser and Cam serving as his opening acts. The trek will play all over the United States, as well in the U.K. and Canada.
"I love the variety of playing all types of shows and venues, but we’ve worked really hard to get to this headlining spot," Bentley acknowledges. "... We launched our [Free and Easy] Tour at the same time the economy took a dive. I spent two and a half years on the road, pounding my head against the door, trying to play the headlining buildings. I remember making a call back to Nashville going, ‘This is not good.' When you first started headlining, they reviewed every show, so they were reviewing us back then: ‘Bless his heart, he played like it was a sold-out show, but there were only about 4,000 people there.’"
In 2009, because of his discouragement, Bentley made his bluegrass album, Up on the Ridge, as a way to return to the music he loved. He was unaware that it would be a launching pad, personally and professionally.
"I really feel like that was a turning point in my career. It was a chance to reset and start over again," the artist explains. "I’m still chasing that same thing I was chasing back there in 2007 and 2008: a chance to play some of these bigger rooms and do it on the biggest scale possible. I really love those big crowds and enjoy doing it at this level."
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