"After my dad passed away," he told me, "I was sitting in Arizona, just looking at the sunset and I was thinking about the road trip he and I made together from Phoenix to Nashville when I was 19 in a 1994 Chevy truck. The country singer gives his inner U2 fan the wheel on this anthemic country ballad from "Riser," written while trying to process his feelings of loss after losing his father.
And the lyrics are heartbreaking, a drinking song for those occasions when the bottle lets you down - or as this single phrases the familiar country theme, "There ain't enough bourbon in Kentucky for me to forget you." 40 despite Bentley's heartfelt delivery and a memorable chorus that practically dares you not to sing along, with Kacey Musgraves chiming in on backing vocals. This melancholy breakup song was the first single out of the box from "Riser" and it somehow stalled at No. He really hits his stride here on the chorus, a sing-along hook that ends with "I keep a-lookin' for the slightest sign/ That you might miss what you left behind/ I know there's nothing stopping you now/ But I'd settle for a slowdown." This country chart-topper takes a more serious look at a breakup than "How Am I Doin'," setting the tone with moody surf guitar as Peter Buck might play it and Bentley in his lower register standing in the middle of the road, where he figures he looks like a fool, getting soaked to the bone, as she drives off. The best part is the bridge, where Bentley sings, "Well I don't know what you were thinkin'/ Runnin' 'round on me/ Now you say you're sorry/ Well honey, I agree." And that last line is spoken to heighten the comic effect. I think country fans get that deeper than most." That could be why "Home" topped the country charts.Īnother early track that makes the most of Bentley's playful side, this upbeat country-rocker eases in as an acoustic country ballad, setting the tone with "It's strange to hear your voice/ I did not expect for you to call/ You wonder how I'm doin', how I'm holdin' up since you did me wrong." And that's when the twangy electric guitars come crashing in and Bentley's tone turns from wounded to sarcastically explaining just how over her he is. I think anyone who hears it understands that America is not just a geography. When he sings 'Home,' I feel patriotic about America.
U2's front man liked it, going on record at the Academy of Country Music Awards this year with, "Dierks Bentley's music reaches all the way from Nashville to my kitchen in Dublin. "American Idol" has never been a Friday show (unlike, of course, "The Dukes of Hazzard").īentley's serious side had never sounded more inspired than it does on this anthemic song about America, on which he sidesteps the chest-beating patriot act you tend to get from country stars in moments as heartfelt as "Scars, yeah she's got her scars/ Sometimes it starts to worry me/ 'Cause lose, I don't wanna lose/ Sight of who we are." No wonder Bono liked it. It should be noted, though, that Wildman Willie would not blow him off on Friday "in the p.m." because "Idol" was on TV. In this one, he can't find anyone to go drinking with on a Friday night and wonders whether he's the only one who wants to have fun tonight. It's another of those story-songs Bentley does so well. 1, this lighthearted honky-tonk throwback sounds like something Jerry Reed or Waylon Jennings might have topped the charts with when a shout-out to "The Dukes of Hazzard" would have been a whole lot less nostalgic.
He tosses in a well-played Bo Duke reference, and that first verse is the stuff of classic country story-songs: "Becky was a beauty from south Alabama/ Her daddy had a heart like a 9-pound hammer/ Think he even did a little time in the slammer/ What was I thinkin'."Īnother smile-inducing country No. 1 on Billboard's country charts - in part, because it's infectious and, in part, because he really sells it, shrugging his way through the chorus hook with an audible grin and throwing in some playful spoken-word asides. Here's a look at his 20 best singles (as scientifically chosen by using the Science of What I Like), topped by "What Was I Thinkin'," the song that sent him on his way 12 years ago.Ī rollicking country-blues track fueled by swampy slide-guitar licks played on what sounds like a Dobro, "What Was I Thinkin'" was Bentley's first single. 15, for a headlining concert at Ak-Chin Pavilion in support of "Riser," the singer's fourth release to top Billboard's country-album charts.
Local country-boy-made-good Dierks Bentley, who launched his career after moving to Nashville in the '90s, is back in the Valley on Saturday, Aug.