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Interview: Dierks Bentley on Watching Audiences React to His Emotional Songs: 'I Have to Close My Eyes'

By Annie Reuter

Dierks Bentley doesn't hold back when he sits down to write a song. While he made room on his GRAMMY-nominated album Riser for fun songs like his recent No. 1 single "Drunk On a Plane," Bentley tells Radio.com that there are some extremely personal and serious songs on the album as well.

Two examples he brings up are "Here On Earth" and "Damn These Dreams."

"'Damn These Dreams' will always be a really personal song for me because it's so real," he explains to Radio.com of the autobiographical track, which discusses falling in love with Hank Williams' music and the difficulty Bentley now feels having to leave his family for the road.

Related: Interview: Dierks Bentley Describes the ‘Crazy’ Emotions Behind New Album ‘Riser’

As for "Here On Earth," he calls it "a really honest song that I think people who have experienced a traumatic loss will connect with."

While Riser has it's fair share of emotional tracks, Bentley also understands that fans attending his concert want to hear the more upbeat songs like "Drunk On a Plane."

"You can't forget what you're there to do on a Friday, Saturday night," he says.

 

Read more and watch the interview on Radio.com

 

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