Dierks Bentley could take home several trophies at Sunday’s ACM Awards. He’s up for Male Vocalist, Album of the Year (Riser), Single and Music Video of the Year for “Drunk on a Plane,” Song of the Year for “I Hold On,” as well as Vocal Event of the Year for “The South” with The Cadillac Three, Florida Georgia Line and Mike Eli. (Audio on most of his awards below)
The Arizona native and father of three received his first award, Top New Artist, at the ACMs in 2004, and it’s still one of his favorite memories. “I remember I had like a white shirt – I’d been on the road touring so hard, so hard, I wasn’t used to having nice clothes. I had like this white collared shirt that we had tailored and ironed, and I put that on,” says Dierks. “I remember riding over and just not knowing what to expect and just hearing my name being called for ACM New Artist of the Year, it was a really big deal, and walking up there getting a chance to thank everybody and hold that trophy. I still have it, obviously, and it means a lot to me.”
Dierks, who is knocking on the door of No. 1 with “Say You Do,” is set to kick off his Sounds of Summer Tour, featuring Kip Moore, Canaan Smith and Maddie & Tae June 5th in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The 50th Annual ACM Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, will be broadcast live from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas at 8pm ET on CBS.
Audio / Dierks Bentley recalls his first ACM Award for New Artist of the Year.
DownloadDierks Bentley (ACM memory) OC: …a lot to me. :38
“My very first award was an ACM Award for New Artist of the Year, and it was really special. I remember I had like a white shirt – I’d been on the road touring so hard, so hard, I wasn’t used to having nice clothes. I had like this white collared shirt that we had tailored and ironed, and I put that on. And I remember riding over and just not knowing what to expect and just hearing my name being called for ACM New Artist of the Year, it was a really big deal, and walking up there getting a chance to thank everybody and hold that trophy. I still have it, obviously, and it means a lot to me.”
Audio / Dierks Bentley, who is up for ACM Album of the Year, says Riser is a snapshot of his life at the moment.
DownloadDierks Bentley (Riser snapshot) OC: …decided for me. :45
“I think every record I’ve made has always been a little bit of a Polaroid snapshot of where I was at that place and time when I made it. This particular album just has a lot of scenery in the picture. I mean there’s a lot that’s gone on in the last two years, more so than any other time in my life. You look at some of the bookends of the making of this record – my Dad passing away at the start of the process and then my son Knox being born at the end of the process. It was unexpected…when I made this record I just wanted to have the best songs. I wasn’t sure what they were going to be about, but I wanted them to be the best. I wanted to write my best songs, I wanted to write a lot of songs. I wanted to listen to a lot of outside songs and find the best songs that I could for whatever I was going to write about, but I wasn’t sure what it was gonna be, and then life came along and decided for me.”
Audio / Dierks Bentley is up for Song of the Year for his poignant “I Hold On,” which he says is about self-discovery.
DownloadDierks Bentley (I Hold On) 1 OC: …at the end. :33
“This is so me. It’s so personal, yet it’s so universal at the same time. These verses are snippets of my life and just things of my life, and it’s kind of a song about self-discovery too. Who am I after all these years? What’s important to me? Why do I do certain things that I do? Why do I hold on to certain things I hold onto? It’s a little bit of me trying to figure out who I am, and then in the choruses, it’s just who we are as Americans, as a people, as human beings I guess, you know there’s things that we really value and hold onto tight – faith, love and freedom. In a way, it’s kind of a love song too, you know, coming back and wrapping up at the end.”
Audio / Dierks Bentley talks about his ACM-nominated Single and Music Video of the Year, “Drunk on a Plane.”
DownloadDierks Bentley (Drunk on a Plane) 2a OC: …pretty funny. :27
“It’s a funny song, but there’s kind of like an undercurrent of like a clown that’s sad on the inside feeling going throughout the whole song. The track’s pretty aggressive and note selection and instruments used, kind of still gives it a little bit of darkness, even though it’s light-hearted song, but you can still feel a tinge of darkness throughout the whole chorus, which I like. It truly is sad [laughs], but it’s kind of done in a way that’s relatable and pretty funny.”
