Country music star Dierks Bentley put out a new single recently called “Gone.” However, it seems as though his plan is to keep fans waiting for a full album.
Bentley has been spending his downtime at home with his family in Colorado. That includes his wife Cassidy and their three children, Evelyn, Jordan, and Knox. The singer admits that he’s been feeling a lot of anxiety due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Bentley has said that it’s been difficult to find inspiration to write songs.
Bentley tells Taste of Country that he isn’t exactly a fan of the idea of releasing another socially-distanced album.
Bentley writes songs during video chats, although he says, it’s “not ideal … but you’ve still got to do it.”
“The idea of doing that again? That doesn’t make me very excited at all,” Bentley admits. “I’d rather wait until we can actually go out there and do the work and see the people and have fun and do it the way it’s supposed to be done.”
“I just put an album out with the Hot Country Knights, and it was just a big — nothing even happened. We didn’t get to do anything … The whole taking it on the road, the whole process of releasing the album … the work, the excitement, the fun of doing that, just — poof, nothing,” Bentley points out.
Bentley’s country group moved forward with their original plans to release their first album, The K Is Silent, on May 1. However, plans for their tour and their other public appearances had to be canceled due to the pandemic.
Bentley tells Taste of Country that he and his collaborators have composed “a lot of COVID-y kind of songs,” though. Bentley even shared a few lines of a song that he co-wrote with Ross Copperman and Ashley Gorley, “What a Year.”
“What a year, what a year, what a year it’s been. Lost and made some new good friends. World came to a stop, started spinnin’ again. Tastes a little sweeter when I breathe it in,” the lyrics read.
Dierks Bentley says the song is intended to look back on 2020 and the stressful year that we’ve all been through.
“It’s looking back on what we’re all going through … that collective pain,” Bentley explains. “But sometimes I think about: Do fans really wanna hear that? Maybe, but they also might just wanna hear a song that’s not so much about what a year it’s been.”
So, yes, he’s written about the pandemic, but he’d prefer to move back into more normalcy, especially in the songwriting realm.
“We’re all making sacrifices right now,” he points out. “I think it’s fun at first. It’s really efficient … I don’t think that should ever be the goal, right? But it is kinda nice.”
