Dierks Bentley

Long before his seven chart-topping singles, headlining arena tours, prestigious industry awards or even his record deal, he was a Nashville novice on the brink of discouragement, Looking for something musically nourishing and a reason to keep pushing toward a career. And then, providentially, he visited the world famous Station Inn. The humble cinder block building is the nerve center of Nashville’s un paralleled bluegrass scene and when Dierks went there with friend on Tuesday night in the late 90s and heard the Sidemen, - the Station Inn’s weekly house band - playing hot and fast, it was a revelation. He’d heard only little bluegrass before and halfway thought of it as “old folks music,” but that changed with a few quickened heartbeats. These players were his own age, and the music had both a heart and an edge. Perhaps most remarkably, it came with it a big wide front door. When Dierks a complete newcomer to the scene, approached the musicians with questions and obvious fascination, they were more than willing to share insight in to their music.

Dierks remembers the next few years as an inspiring and important time. “They invited me over to their houses for moonshine and picking parties and pot lucks” he says. “And they knew more about country music and Nashville and acoustic music than anyone on Music Row, Without that whole bluegrass community taking me in and helping me find my foundation, I would have had no place to start from.”

Bentley honed his own style playing all kinds of country music in the cubs and honky-tonks of Nashville‘s Lower Broadway and Second Avenue, mixing bluegrass with classic standards, obscure covers he found digging through old albums and an increasing number of his own songs. And when he landed his record deal with Capitol, he was happily surprised to find support for keeping his ties to bluegrass. Not only did many of his singles and album tracks feature prominent acoustic instruments, especially dobro, each of his albums included certified bluegrass song with the McCourys or The Grascals, a band largely comprised of the guys Dierks had met in those early Sidemen shows.

Throughout his career on, Capitol as Dierks built one of the most Loyal connected fan bases in modern day country music, the press recognized that he was pulling off something extraordinary. His music was grounded in tradition but with enough relatability to work on the radio. No Depression magazine, the bible of the Americana movement, praised him for being a bridge between the roots world and the commercial mainstream. His fans began asking with some regularity when he was going to make a bluegrass album.

Than last year, after a gruelling tour, Dierks approached tile fall and winter feeling the need to throw out the rule book and indulge in the sounds that brought him to the show. The song that set the tone for the project and gave it its title was inspired by some time spent on an actual ridge — a plot of land Dierks bought in rural Williamson County with no buildings except an old barn and a commanding view of the hills, fields and trees. Dierks finally arranged a long-sought writing session with Angelo, a lyrical and sonic wizard who’d come to Dierks’ attention working with Kim Richey but who’d gone on to rock production stardom with the Kings of Leon. A conversation about the good time possibilities of hanging out on the ridge matched with Angelo’s spooky mantra-like guitar riff, and the gritty title track was born.

From there, the partnership with John Randall led to a series of sessions where complete a album took shape. Mountains were moved to get busy artists together in the relaxed setting of Gary Paczosa‘s studio. Dierks arranged to write and record with one of his heroes, Tim O’brien, producing a darkly comic and swinging country/grass classic, ‘You’re Dead To Me’. Kristofferson’s song ‘From The bottle to the Bottom' was unknown to Bentley, a student of great country songs, until it was suggested by Jon Randall. And they pulled together two of the biggest stars of traditional country music Jamey Johnson and Miranda Lambert for a three-way harmony blowout on the Verlon Thompson/Suzi Ragsdale song Bad Angel.”

The production team decamped at one point for Brooklyn, New York, where Dierks spent a magical three days recording with the Punch Brothers, arguably the most innovative and technically complete pickers in acoustic music. He matched voices beautifully on Bob Dylans rippling and subversive ‘Senor.’ And he and Stewart pulled off the coup of the album - a searing vocal duet with Del McCoury on U2’s ‘Pride (In The Name of Love)’ over the Punch Brothers exquisitely arranged soundscape - one of the great acts of group interpretation of a standard you’ll ever hear.

U2 and Kristofferson notwithstanding, some of the very strongest songs on the album are by Dierks. He and John Randall came up with “Draw Me A Map,” with its seductive dobro-thick melodic theme and its longing lyrics. Their version of ‘Rovin’ Gambler’ is the hardest, fastest bluegrass number on the album. And they wrap the project with the moving ‘Down In The Mine,' which adds another gem to the historic catalogue of bluegrass mining ballads.

Throughout this journey of 12 tracks, Dierks voice sounds liberated and authentically connected to the songs. Its grainy honesty is captured in all it’s nuance by the recording genius of Paczosa, who is widely regarded as the top acoustic engineer of this era. ‘This album is a brilliant piece of work.' says Paczosa. 'And he didn’t do it for any other reason than, this was the record that was his heart. And he didn’t even though the bulk of the record is pretty straight ahead bluegrass instrumentation, there are plenty of other elements that, to me, tie this record to his past records. I know his intent, first and foremost was to make a record that he was proud of.'

Mission accomplished.