The transformation that happens when a young artist goes on the road – you put the acoustic guitar down and start to play the electric a little louder – it gets a little bit ragged. – Dierks Bentley
When I’m done with all of this, I’m going to write a book on it: have a guide to having a life and being on the road. Especially having a family and being on the road. – Dierks Bentley
Where I’m at in my relationship with my wife or my family and life in general, I feel like it all comes out in the music. Hopefully, it’s always there, but in an ambiguous and abstract way and not real straightforward. – Dierks Bentley
It’s not that you can do this calculated move to try to further your career. You just follow what’s in your heart, and later you look back and go, ‘I was either really dumb or really smart, I can’t believe I did that.’ – Dierks Bentley
Only in country music can you compare an old pickup truck and an old guitar to your wife and turn it into a love song… Thank God for country music. – Dierks Bentley
I’m on stage 13. I’m at that can’t-be-replaced stage. The transformation I’ve been through personally with my wife is amazing, but having two girls and a boy, man, that’s the painful stuff. – Dierks Bentley
I want to be free to be any version of me I feel like being. I don’t want to be McDonald’s that serves the same food every time. – Dierks Bentley
I wrote that song ‘Black,’ and it was just this idea that I had been married for 10 years. Everyone talks about ‘happily ever after,’ but there’s so much more to it than that. – Dierks Bentley
I was 17, and a friend said, ‘Man, you’ve got to listen to this song,’ and he played ‘Man to Man.’ From there on, I was hooked on country. Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Clint Black. Every show that came through America West Arena, I was there. – Dierks Bentley
That’s what I love about Nashville and the music community – seeing kids around acoustic music and bluegrass picking parties is the best. – Dierks Bentley
And I’m the biggest country fan there is, but I’m always a little cautious of a slower song or just a song with subject matter. – Dierks Bentley
No, as an artist, you have to be free to explore all the corners of your heart. There are no boundaries. – Dierks Bentley
Country music is always changing but the Opry is always there to serve as a lighthouse for what country music really is. The past, present and future is all encompassed by not only the physical structure of the building but also the radio show. – Dierks Bentley
If someone wants a picture, I’m so honored and so flattered, and I hope I have a reputation as someone who goes out of his way to do those kinds of things. – Dierks Bentley
As soon as I got into country music, it was like hook, line and sinker. I was so focused on country, I ended up leaving all those ’80s hair-band CDs behind – which now I still wish I had, but I was done with it. – Dierks Bentley
As a songwriter, you might write every day and throughout the course of a year you might get four songs that are really special. – Dierks Bentley
I try to make sure to get off the bus as much as I can, try to do something during the day that’s local to where I am, whether it’s hiking or fishing. – Dierks Bentley
Being married is one thing, but having kids will completely change you. I still go out and hang with my buddies, but having two daughters will completely change your perspective on the world. – Dierks Bentley
I like big shows, a lot of volume and a lot of energy. I love electric instruments. But I do love mixing those with bluegrass instruments and cranking those up, too, with a little bit of that rock energy. – Dierks Bentley
When I got to Nashville, people started asking me about how I got into country music. I’d tell them I came from a place where people wore cowboy hats for a real reason. – Dierks Bentley
Most of my read on America is through looking through the front windshield of a bus and hanging out with country music fans backstage. – Dierks Bentley
There should be a whole book written about that one word: country. What does that mean, country? It’s such a huge umbrella. I would hope that what makes it country is that it all starts with a song. The story being told in three and a half minutes that is not being told on another station. – Dierks Bentley
But as far as being an American and loving this country and getting a chance to travel across it every day and meeting people on the road and folks in the military, I love this country on so many different levels. – Dierks Bentley
It’s Frederick Dierks Bentley, but my whole family goes by their middle name – my sister, my brother. So from day one, I’ve always been called Dierks. – Dierks Bentley
I never met Johnny Cash personally, but I feel like I did because I listened to so much of his music, and even though he’s gone, it’s still there: you can go pull a vinyl record out and hear his personal thoughts and his voice and feel connected to him. – Dierks Bentley
If people sneak into my show, that’s a sign of a good show, you know? If people want to risk getting in trouble with the law to come see you play music, that’s a sign you’re doing something right. – Dierks Bentley
I’ve known my wife since we were 13 years old in eighth grade, and we kinda dated each other’s best friends. The four of us always hung out, but I really wanted her. We dated around 17, but I was no way mature enough for her. – Dierks Bentley
I think about me and my dad taking a road trip from Phoenix to Nashville when I was 19. He’s no longer here with me, but I still drive that same 1994 Chevy truck. I never have bought a new car. – Dierks Bentley
