How the Song ‘Black’ Inspired Dierks Bentley’s Entire New Album

Dierks Bentley is always looking for a new angle to take and a new vibe to make when he releases new music. His upcoming album, Black, took that approach based off one song alone.

“Whenever I’m moving forward into a new album, I’m definitely looking for a new sound, some new idea to kind of like start writing to wrapping the album around. So, it’s either a sonic thing or a lyrical thing or an idea,” said Bentley.

Bentley, whose album will be released on May 27, never likes to stay in a box from album to album. He becomes inspired by a number of different situations and his title track, ‘Black,’ became the main source of perspective for the whole record.

“On the last record it really came from, I had some personal stuff going on in my life with people passing away and people being born,” said Bentley. “On this record, it really came from the song ‘Black,’ which is the album title. Just these milestones were passing me by, and I didn’t really get a chance to celebrate them or honor them.”

One of these important moments, which in turn led to the rest of the love-based theme for the album, was the celebration of Bentley’s ten-year anniversary with his wife.

“I kind of started thinking about that and relationships in general and how crazy it is to be with someone for 10 years,” he said. “And that really sparked the idea for the song ‘Black,’ and really from there that’s kind of the cornerstone of the record, that song, and that’s where the idea for this kind of relationship-based record came from and trying to do it in a way that’s a little bit different than just a love song, all love song-based album.”

Bentley’s latest single, ‘Somewhere on a Beach,’ is a more laidback hit when it comes to love, but the chart-climbing song is on its way to being one of the country tracks of the summer. He will also be hosting a performance in the same wave of ‘Beach’ during Memorial Day Weekend for all fans to come out and celebrate the summer.