As Dierks Bentley‘s latest hit, “Gone,” breaks into the top ten this week, the part-time Colorado resident’s still working on its accompanying album.
For Dierks, the forced slowdown of the COVID-19 pandemic has given him a chance to spread his wings creatively.
“We’ve been working on songs all last year,” he tells ABC Audio. “I’ve been in the studio a bunch this year and just kind of using COVID as an excuse to really explore different sounds and ideas.”
The changing way fans enjoy music in the digital age has also affected the way Dierks views his follow-up to 2018’s The Mountain.
“I feel like every record could be the last one you ever get a chance to make,” he says candidly. “Certainly records aren’t consumed like they used to be. We’re really making these things, in some ways, just for your most hardcore fans, and mostly for ourselves…”
“The record’s almost separate of radio and everything else,” he adds. “You do the record, you just kind of make it almost I feel like for just longevity, what you want to look back on and be proud of the process and what you did. So [we’re] taking our time, getting it right.”
Meanwhile, Dierks is itching for his first chance to play “Gone” before a live audience.
“I have been writing a bunch of songs, but I also cut outside songs too, and that was an outside song,” he explains. “And I can’t wait to go play it live and see what the reaction is with the crowd. It’ll hopefully be a number one by the time we get out there on the road.”
Dierks’ first stop on his High Times & Hangover Tour is just days away: May 11 in Isle of Palms, SC.
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