Dierks Bentley’s “Home” has climbed to the top of both the Mediabase/Country Aircheck and Billboard country singles charts. Dierks wrote the song with pal Brett Beavers and new collaborator, Dan Wilson, and he said going into the writing session, they didn’t have a clue about what to write. When he had to leave for a brief time to assist his wife with a car issue, he came back and found that the other two had come up with a beautiful melody. However, when Dan suggested a patriotic song, Dierks was a bit apprehensive, but he soon changed his mind. “Dan had said something about America. He kept thinking, ‘This song feels like America,’” recalls Dierks. “And I was like, ‘Aw man, writing a patriotic song is so difficult. Let’s not do that. Those songs are too hard to write.’ Brett said something about ‘Home,’ and then I think I said something like, ‘the place we all call home.’ Maybe we could write a song about America that’s not overly in your face about it, you know, something that everyone could grab a hold of and feel inspired by.”

“Home” is the second single from Dierks’ latest album of the same name to hit the top of the charts. The previous single, “Am I The Only One,” also hit No. 1.

“Home” is nominated for “Song of the Year” at next month’s ACM Awards.

Dierks Bentley (writing Home) OC: …runs out, you know? :21

“You know, I wrote about 70 songs last year, and I feel like that’s one of those songs, those moments that you can’t calculate it. I came into that writing meeting with nothing. Brett [Beavers] had nothing. Dan Wilson had nothing. We were going to write for two days, so we figured that first day, let’s get to know each other and see what’s going on. I was kind of out of ideas. I mean, it’s hard to write that much throughout an entire year and listen to that many songs. The stockpile runs out, you know?”

Dierks Bentley (writing Home) 2 OC: …with this song. 1:06

“[So] we were hanging out for about an hour, getting to know each other, and my wife called, battery’s dead. Typical — that car of hers. I went over and jumped her car, came back over, and Brett and Dan had started this melody, and I thought it was beautiful. Dan had said something about America. He kept thinking, ‘This song feels like America.’ And I was like, ‘Aw man, writing a patriotic song is so difficult. Let’s not do that. Those songs are too hard to write.’ Brett said something about ‘Home,’ and then I think I said something like, ‘the place we all call home.’ Maybe we could write a song about America that’s not overly in your face about it, you know, something that everyone could grab a hold of and feel inspired by. The recession was in full board at this point a year ago, the political nature of this country was as bad as it’s ever been with, basically, Washington D.C. being turned into a football game between two sides and not caring about the fans, the voters, the public at all, just their own internal thing going on there. It’s about now, but it’s a little bit of a history lesson too about what we’ve been through. And at the end of the day, I think it’s inspiring and hopeful, and it’s been a real blessing of a song and one that none of us really could take too much credit for, just inspiration hit. You write that many songs over the course of a year, you might get one of those moments, and we got one with this song.”