Surprise! A new album is coming from Dierks Bentley. After teasing a big announcement on social media for a few days, the Arizona native reveals that his next album, Gravel & Gold, will be out on February 24. The record will include his current single, “Gold.”
“It’s been a long road. A 20-year journey filled with highs and lows, twists and turns,” Bentley says in the album’s trailer. “My love for country music, that’s what’s always kept me going. Town to town, show to show, small clubs to packed arenas. I worked hard, I took chances, went for things. The journey isn’t where I’ve been. It’s the thing I carry with me into my tenth album. I wrote, I recorded. It wasn’t good enough.
“I threw it out and started over. Twice,” he continues. “I had to get it right, for the fans, for me. It had to be the best country music I’ve ever made. Everyone showed up. My heroes and my friends. We did it together. It’s the love, the lessons, the gravel and gold.”
#GravelAndGold out February 24th
Pre-order here: https://t.co/HpVmh5ZFKI pic.twitter.com/3EkdxjwGj7— Dierks Bentley (@DierksBentley) January 12, 2023
Bentley also opened up about the labor of love Gravel & Gold became, with his record label, UMG Nashville.
“It is the tenth album. I went into the studio three different times, worked with a lot of different producers, and finally just ended up putting together my own team,” Bentley reveals. “I mean, I’m just thankful. I feel like for me for COVID, it was like a red light. For all of us, we were all just stuck there and I kind of got out of my car, and just left it in park for a little bit. I was able to come back and do it in late ’21 and ’22 and really be focused on finishing the record and getting it done the right way. Hopefully everyone loves it.”
“Gold,” currently in the Top 20, was written by Bentley, along with Ross Copperman, Luke Dick and Ashley Gorley, inspired by his time off during the pandemic, and the creativity that break fostered inside of him.
“2020 was a chance for me to give my guitar and the road a little rest,” Bentley says. “It gave me the chance to spend a lot more time adventuring outdoors with family and friends, but also alone. It also gave me time to reset and rekindle my love of country music and a lot of the types of songs and sounds that I fell in love with when I first got to Nashville. I think you’ll hear that in this first track, but it carries across the whole album.”
Pre-order of Gravel & Gold is available here. Find all music and tour dates at Dierks.com.