Dierks Bentley Reveals Why He’ll Never Wear Cowboy Boots Again

HINT: It has to do with a torn ACL.

Written by Lauren Laffer
Dierks Bentley Reveals Why He’ll Never Wear Cowboy Boots Again
THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON -- Episode 0883 -- Pictured: Musical Guest Dierks Bentley performs "Burning Man" on June 13, 2018 -- (Photo by: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC)

Spending night after night entertaining crowds can be full of pressure for performers, especially with the possibility of a fall occurring. While several stars (we’re looking at you, Luke Bryan) have taken a tumble from time to time, they usually pop back up right after. The same goes for Dierks Bentley, who learned a quick lesson from a fall onstage.

Early on in his career, Bentley was used to playing small venues with even smaller stages. Those stages prevented the singer from getting to move around like he wanted to, until he got the chance to open for Kenny Chesney.

During his time on tour, Bentley was invited to join Chesney back onstage for the encore and decided to switch up his ensemble.

“I was wearing a pair of boots I had never worn before. Somebody had gave me a pair of cowboy boots at the meet and greet and I thought, ‘I’ll put them on in case they’re out there, they can see me wearing them, so I’ll be a nice guy.’ Bad idea,” laughed Bentley during a backstage interview at The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon.

Dierks Bentley

THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON — Episode 0883 — Pictured: Musical Guest Dierks Bentley performs “Burning Man” on June 13, 2018 — (Photo by: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC)

Everything seemed good to go when he took the stage in his new set of kicks. It wasn’t until the Arizona native got to run around the stage and take a leap from the eagle risers that everything came to a screeching halt.

“I landed in these kind of funky boots and it felt like the world’s biggest rubber band snapped inside my knee. It was a crazy, intense painful feeling. I tried to stay upright but I came crashing down. Kenny came over, kind of laughing, and just thinking I was messing around. He looked at my face and knew I wasn’t messing around, but I was able to finish the song through, I think, sheer fear of the crowd,” he admitted.

After finishing the song, Bentley made his way offstage and headed straight back home to Nashville. That’s when he learned he’d torn his ACL.

“That was on a Saturday night, I got back to Nashville and had surgery on a Wednesday and was back out on the road Friday with a new ACL implanted in my knee. Many stories of chipped teeth and bruised livers and broken bones over the years, but that one sticks out the most,” he conceded.

While he hasn’t rocked cowboy boots in quite a few years, Bentley does love a good pair of secondhand combat boots. He donned a special pair during his 2015 Sounds of Summer Tour, sharing the boots were from WWII and first belonged to someone by the name of Lipman.