There is no denying that Dierks Bentley’s GRAMMY-nominated album is his most personal. The country singer went through a lot while recording Riser, including the death of his father and the birth of his son. This hardship and joy can be heard within every track on the album. I sat down with Dierks in February for a very honest chat after the New York premiere of his film Dierks Bentley: Riser, which followed his journey during his recording process.
“It’s crazy with touring and family and your dad passing away and at the same time your son is born,” he told me. “As a songwriter, [you have to] keep that honesty and somehow put life into a three-minute-and-30-second song in different snippets throughout the whole album. That was the main challenge, and I feel like I was able to do that.”
His album Riser is a roller coaster of emotions, something Dierks is very aware of.
“Every album I make I try to make a snapshot of where I am at that point in my life,” Dierks said. “That’s the goal, to be able to capture that and put it on a record. And it’s really no different on this record– same process. It’s just that life is a lot fuller.”
Interestingly, the song that’s perhaps the most personal on the album, “Damn These Dreams,” almost didn’t make the cut. He explained that it wasn’t until he sent the song to his band that convinced him otherwise.
“Almost all of them wrote back and said, ‘That’s the best song of the whole deal. That song is so personal and you have to put it on the record.’ I’m so thankful we did. I’ve found the more personal that I write, the more universal the song tends to be for some reason. That song is strictly about me being on the road and being a musician and having a family. I had a lot of guys came up to me that travel for a living and said, ‘I sat down and played this song for my daughter who’s 14, and I had to travel a lot in her early years to explain what that push and pull is like.’ A song can really take a life of its own after you put it out there.”
For more of my interview with Dierks Bentley, visit Radio.com.