Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Dierks Bentley (unifying thread in The Mountain) OC: …their own lives. 1:22
“I think the unifying thread that runs through The Mountain would be just happiness and positivity, just a real kind of vibe of being grateful in the moment that you’re in, you know? The album really started off just as a tiny idea of something to do with the West. I wasn’t sure if it was a sonic idea or some sort of lyric or an overall vibe, and I didn’t really know where to go. I just put it on the backburner and kept just doing what we were doing which was touring nonstop. I had some shows up there. I played a show, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in June (2017) and it was just so inspiring and so fun, and I kinda had the idea to come back and write there and I did. I came back in August, then I came back and recorded there. That initial little idea I had, I thought I wasn’t going to work on that all, but it turns out I was just kind of in a back door way. And the album kind of wrote itself to be that story of just songs like ‘Living,’ ‘Can’t Bring Me Down’ and ‘The Mountain,’ just the vibe of just being really grateful and inspired by your surroundings and not just the mountain vibe, but the surroundings on the road too. The people that I meet on the road that are climbing their own personal mountains and the stuff they’re trying to overcome. I hear so many stories backstage at the Meet-and-Greets, and I was unknowingly inspired by those stories, and I think that gives the whole Mountain [album] a great metaphor between the actual mountains and the mountains people are pursuing in their own lives.”

Travis Denning (grew up in Warner Robins GA) OC: …where I come from. :44
“So, I was born and raised in a town called Warner Robins, Georgia, which is an Air Force town, Robins Air Force Base. A lot of my friends, a lot of my family worked for the Air Force or Civil Servants and worked on base. I think that was so cool to grow up in a town where people take patriotism, they take values, they take all those things very seriously, but they still know how to have a great time, and we had a great community. I love the high school that I went to. I still keep in touch with a lot of my friends, because they’re real people and they’ve never changed. It’s so easy to see that in my music, because I can’t help but write where I come from, because I love it. I love where I come from; I’m proud of where I come from.”

Maddie & Tae (Netflix obsession) OC: (Maddie)…one day.  :10
TAE: “Favorite Netflix obsession…” MADDIE: “I feel like we have the same one right now, right?” TAE: “Definitely Handmaids Tale, wouldn’t you agree?” MADDIE: “Oh, yeah, yeah. It’s creepy because it feels like it could be real one day.”

Keith Urban (Kelsea on tour) OC: …love Kelsea. :34
“We talked about touring [together before] and not enough of the dates lined up for us to do it, and they just did this time. One of those stars lining up moments. I just felt musically it’s such a great compatibility of fusion that we both sort of work in. it’s certainly not pure country, neither of us. We obviously grew up with contemporary country influences, pop country influences, and I just felt that it was a great, great collaborative blend of the two of us. I always think about my audiences too and who are they going to respond to, and I think they’ll love Kelsea.”

Keith Urban (incorporating new songs) OC: …time to play.
“I’m the indecisive guy looking at a buffet with way too much food [laughs] ‘cause the mountain of it. ‘I’m not too sure, and so I’ll just take it all and I’ll figure it out at the table.’ That’s a little bit of what the set list looks like right now. It’s a buffet. It’s a conundrum because I want to play what the audience wants to hear, obviously, and there’s a mix of people in the audience. You’ve got new people that have never seen us live, and they’re hoping you do X song, whatever it might be. It could be ‘Kiss a Girl,’ it could ‘Sweet Thing,’ it could be ‘You’ll Think of Me,’ it could be ‘Days Go By.’ It could be so many songs. And then you’ve got other people who’ve seen us hundreds and hundreds of times and they’re like, ‘Please don’t do that song again. We’ve heard that a million times. We want to hear more of the new ones.’ So, it’s a beautiful challenge that I feel very blessed, very, very blessed to have, and at the end of the day I’ll put together a set list that feels energy and emotion and thematically and musically and every other way right from top to bottom, covering as much as we can without playing for four hours. It’s also a part of the reason why we didn’t take out a third act on the tour. We’re just taking out Kelsea and us. It gives us more time to play.”

Clare Dunn (Father’s Day gift) OC: …one year. :35
“[My Dad] loves the weather, so we gave him a weather machine one year, and that was…well, he’s a farmer so he has to watch the weather all the time. And we gave him this weather gadget-gizmo that sits on top of the horse barn and gives him his own read-out of the weather. ‘What’s the temp? What’s the pressure? What’s the humidity?’ Well, there is no humidity in Colorado, or Southeast, but I think that was probably the biggest gift. My mom, I think, she gets all the credit for that, but I think we all collectively did that for Father’s Day one year.”

Darius Rucker (Father’s Day) OC: …loving dad. :41
“I think if you asked my kids what kind of Dad I was they would probably say…Dani would say that I was a fun Dad. My little daughter would say that I was a fun dad; she thinks I’m a lot of fun. I think if you caught them at the right moment they would say I was mean [laughs] because when I’m home I’m not afraid to discipline them. I’m all fun until it’s not fun anymore and then daddy’s not the fun guy. I think that they’d say that I was a fun Dad, I’m a loving Dad and I think they would say that. I’m gone so much that when I’m home, I just shower love upon my kids. I say ‘I love you’ probably fifty times a day. We hug, we kiss all the time. I’m always wanting them to know how much I love them. So I’d hope they’d say that I was a loving dad.”

Darius Rucker (mother’s qualities makes him a great father) OC: …my mom. :45
“She had a lot great qualities, but she was always, family was first for her. She was always a rock and making sure she took care of us and making sure we had things we needed to have to survive – food and clothes and a home – and seeing that and seeing how hard she worked and all the things she did just really made me the father that I am today. I mean, I’m so crazy and hands-on with my kids. I think it all comes from watching my mom have to struggle so much to support us. And so now, I don’t want me or my wife to ever have to struggle, and I don’t want my kids to ever want or wonder where I am or where their mom is. I want them to always know where we are and always be taken care of, and that all comes from my mom.”

Dierks Bentley (dad & performer) OC: …to do both. :28
“When I get home, it’s a totally different reality that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. Just hanging with my girls and doing the things we do and seeing life through their eyes, it’s incredible. It takes a man to do it. It’s not a boys’ game. It takes a man to do it. I love the juxtaposition to be able to be that man and to also go on the road and act like I’m 13 years old and play video games all afternoon waiting for the fans to show up. So, it’s really a blessing to be able to do both.”

Dierks (Father’s Day) OC: …that’s for sure. :10
“My dad was my biggest influence in country music because my dad loved country radio. So, we always drove around listening to country radio and George Strait, Hank Williams and Randy Travis and all these guys, so. Without him, I wouldn’t be doing this, that’s for sure.”

Eric Church (Father’s Day) OC: …always admired. :29
“My dad is a, I’m trying to find the right words to describe him. My dad is a great guy, honest guy, very call it like he sees it, which is where I get a lot of that. No BS. I’m gonna tell you how I feel whether you like it or not. I’m that guy, I’m me…My dad’s that way, so I get a lot of that from him. There’s also an honesty and an integrity that my dad carries himself with that I’ve always admired.”

Eric Paslay (Father’s Day) OC: …ceiling fan. :23
“He just taught me that working hard and sticking it out, even when you know things aren’t right, that if you stick it out, it’s worth it in the end. And he just taught me to work hard, and there’s a lot of things that you don’t have to pay someone else to do, and it feels more rewarding when you’re able to put in new light fixtures or paint your own walls or put in a new ceiling fan.”

Jordan Davis (Father’s Day) OC: …my music. :45
“The thing I love most about my Dad is just his overall love of life. He’s a guy that’s worked hard and is now at a point where he can enjoy it, and he’s living every day to the fullest. That’s something that I’m very thankful that I’ve seen my Dad do and something to learn from. So, that’s probably my favorite quality about the old man, and just the hard work too. My dad ran a furniture business in Shreveport for a long time with his Dad. It was great to grow up and see a guy work hard and helped his Dad build a business from the ground up to a very successful business, and that’s something that I even try to carry over into my music.”

Keith Urban (Father’s Day) OC: …experience that. :36
“The first thing is probably just having someone call you dad. I’m like, ‘Omigosh! I’m her dad! That’s amazing.’ That’s probably the first thing to me. I don’t know, I mean, the different personalities that our two daughters have, that’s amazing. It’s such a long list I think. I always say…I think for the people that haven’t had kids – which I hadn’t for a long, long time. I didn’t have kids ‘til later on, and being around it is not the same as having them, you know? I realize that it’s not something that can be explained until you actually sort of have it, so I’m glad I got to experience that.”

Kip Moore (Father’s Day-dad’s influence) OC: …of us singin’ ‘em. :29
“He would just play all those classic records – Little River Band, Jackson Brown, Springsteen, Seeger, Willie Nelson, the Red-Headed Stranger, Kristofferson, Sam Cook – like classic music. He’d be singing the songs and telling us why it was such good music. And I looked up to him so much, that’s the music I gravitated towards and that’s what I continue to listen to. Whenever I think about those old fishing trips, that’s what I think about is on the way down there, him singing those songs and all of us singin’ ‘em.”

Charles Kelley (being a father) OC: …wife Cassie. :38
“Gosh! I mean, being a father, it really puts a lot of things into perspective about making sure you do shut off that side of your brain, that work side of your brain and focus on what matters most. I think n the past, I think I’ve always had it in the back of the mind – work, and once you have a kid, you see something that you love more than yourself. I don’t know. It just really is making me realize how fast time moves and to really and try to enjoy these little moments with my little son and my wife, Cassie.”

Lady A (Father’s Day-Dave) OC: …like that. :39
“My dad was a really hard worker growing up and was always great, however hard he worked, he’d always make important time for family, important time to be home for dinner and be there for a lot of special moments for us growing up. For all the money he would make, he would always give a portion of it back to charity or to the church, and so that was always important for me to watch. We had a great relationship growing up. My dad plays guitar; he’s very musical. I learned how to play acoustic guitar with him playing ‘Day Tripper’ by the Beatles and all these old songs we’d play together when he’d show me how to play these James Taylor songs and things like that. So, definitely want to pass along music, of course, to my children, as well, like that.”

Lady A (Father’s Day-Hillary) OC: …my children. :33
“I definitely got my Type-A personality from my dad. He’s the same way, but one thing I’m so appreciative of – especially from a father-daughter relationship – my dad always, always talked to me, even when I didn’t want to talk to him. He would force me to communicate and talk through things, and not always the easy stuff, which is such a rare quality in a man, truthfully. And so, I am very, very thankful for that. I think it helped me find the right husband for me, and I also know that it will help me be that much of a better communicator to my children.”

Lauren Alaina (Father’s Day) OC: …always has been. :50
“Oh my gosh. My dad’s the best. I’m really proud of my daddy. “October 6th will be his five-year anniversary of being sober. So that’s a big one for us. And it’s been really amazing the last few years with his recovery. Our relationship was a little rocky before he went into rehab and now we talk every single day. And he is my daddy and I’m so proud of him. He’s the hardest worker I know, and that’s why I work so hard because I grew up watching him do it. I’m proud of him and he moved to Alabama for work and he loves it, and he’s like 30 minutes from the beach. So, I’m trying to hit that beach up every minute I can. But I’m really proud of him, and he’s a great dad and he always has been.”

Luke Bryan (Father’s Day 2018) OC: …air conditioning.
“Last year, my Father’s Day was Caroline was perfect in asking me what I wanted for Father’s Day, and I said I want to go camping with the boys on a little trout stream thing. So, I went and borrowed, I knew a buddy who had like a pull-behind trailer, you know, camper; get the camper hooked up, get to the campsite, it’s 98 degrees. I had loaded a lawn mower in the back of my truck. By the time I got done mowing an acre of four-foot tall grass for the campsite, mosquitos, couldn’t get the camper – you know, the camper never works like you want it to. It may just be a day around the pool at the Bryan house. I hadn’t really put my mind together for what I want for Father’s Day, but I won’t be mowing an acre of grass for the RV moment. But I will tell you I made a last-minute call and got my tour bus driver. I said, ‘Please just bring the tour bus so we can sleep in some air conditioning.’”

Maddie & Tae (Father’s Day) OC: …for Father’s Day. :26
“So, for Father’s Day, I made my Dad – I think it was right before I moved to Nashville – I made my Dad this little photo book where it had like his quotes that have stuck with me my whole life and then some pictures, and it was really funky. It looks horrible. It’s not put together, but that’s one of his favorite gifts that he’s ever gotten, and I cherish that ugly photo book thing that I made for him for Father’s Day.”

Sam Hunt (Father’s Day) OC: …he’s great. :27
“I’m obviously biased about my parents, but I’ve been around a lot of great men of integrity, but he is by far the best man that I know. He’s just taught me so much about being a man, doing the right thing, knowing the difference between right and wrong. And even though I don’t always follow his lead, I definitely know better because of him, and that means a whole lot to me. I was just really fortunate to have him as a dad, and he’s great.”

Travis Denning (Father’s Day) OC: …for sure. :43
“My dad – I call him ‘Diamond Dave’ and a lot of other people do too. Honestly, I don’t know if I drink more with anybody else more than my Dad. I think a super cool thing now is getting older and knowing that I’m starting to get more and more sustained as a human that it’s like my parents get to be friends now with me and my sister, which is such a cool thing. And so, yeah, me and my Dad – we love music and we love heavy metal and we love all that. We get to go to concerts and football games and drink beer and just enjoy that cool part of a father and a son and a mother and a son where now we get to be friends and it’s really cool. My Dad is my best friend, for sure.”