Country giant Dierks Bentley has released a new collaboration featuring bluegrass favorite Billy Strings. “High Note” is a showcase for Bentley’s love of and adeptness in a range of roots music influences, and stands as a jam session also featuring revered instrumentalists Jerry Douglas on dobro, Sam Bush on mandolin and, alongside Strings, fellow guest guitarist Bryan Sutton.
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The track follows the recently-released “Gold” as another taster for Bentley’s tenth album, which is due to be released in early 2023. He produced “High Note” along with Ross Copperman, Jon Randall, and F. Reid Shippen. “Bryan Sutton first tipped me off to Billy Strings about seven years ago mentioning that the future of bluegrass was in good hands,” says Bentley.
“I was totally blown away the first time I saw him. I’ve cut songs like these since my first record, and I knew I wanted to have him on this one, I’m such a huge fan. It was a lot of fun to have him, Jerry, Sam and Bryan all passing licks around – having them all on this record means a lot to me personally.”
Bentley performed “Gold” on last night’s (17) The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, after which he and the late night show host talked about the country star winning the first-ever Colbert Cup. He took the honor during Pickled, the CBS special celebrity pickleball tournament that benefits Comic Relief US, and which also featured other celebrities such as Will Ferrell, Sugar Ray Leonard, Emma Watson, and Tig Notaro.
It’s now 21 years since Bentley landed his first publishing deal, and 19 since he released his self-titled debut album, which gave him a country No.1 with “What Was I Thinkin’.” Since then he has amassed a total of 6.4 billion streams, three CMA Awards, 14 Grammy nominations, and has been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. Beyond the music, he has developed his Flag & Anthem lifestyle collection Desert Son and the “Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row” franchise in four locations.
Buy or stream “High Note.”
