Dierks Bentley is readying a new album for release…and he’s about to give fans their first taste of what’s to come when his new single hits the airwaves next week. The song is “Bourbon in Kentucky,” and the album is called Riser. “There’s certainly a new sound to the album,” Dierks hints, adding, “With all my records, I’m always searching for ‘new’.” Fans needn’t worry that he’s making some sort of drastic departure from the kind of music they know and love, though. “The lonesome stuff is on there. And I’d say ‘Bourbon in Kentucky’ is an example of that,” Dierks explains. He’s also quick to reassure that several songs are “made for consuming cold beer.” And then there’s what Dierks calls the “third layer” of the album, offering fans a personal glimpse of “where I am in my life as a dude, as a man, as a husband [and] father…” and as a man who, since recording his last album, has lost his father. “That’s all kind of tied into it.”

• Riser is planned for release before year’s end. Be listening for “Bourbon in Kentucky” on your favorite radio station starting next Tuesday (5/28)!

Dierks Bentley talks about his forthcoming album, Riser. (:20)

“Actually, there’s certainly a new sound to the album. But I think ‘new’ is what is exciting about country music, you know? ‘New’ is what got me into country music. Hearing Hank Junior sing when I was 17-years-old was totally new to me. It might’ve been old to somebody else, but for me that was a brand new sound, and it just was…exciting. So, I think with all my records, I’m always searching for ‘new’.”

Dierks Bentley offers fans a taste of what they’ll hear on his new album, Riser. (:31)

“There are songs on the record that, you know, kind of correlate back to certain themes I’ve had in the past. Certainly the lonesome stuff is on there. And I’d say ‘Bourbon in Kentucky’ is an example of that. And then [there’s] some stuff that’s made for, uh…consuming cold beer. Then there’s kind of a third layer to the album which would be to show kind of where I am in my life as a, you know, as a dude, as a man, as a…as a husband, father…the guy – you know my dad passed away, so that’s all kind of tied into it. Just kind of a look at the world around me and making observations on that.”