“Drunk on a Plane” is Dierks Bentley‘s 12th No. 1 song. Or, as he explained it to me, his 12-pack is now complete. (Let’s just reflect on how Bentley is always ready with a beer reference, shall we?)
“It is possibly the biggest song of my career,” he said backstage at his recent show at Chicago’s Soldier Field. “‘What Was I Thinkin” was huge but this one keeps going down in the set list. When we wrote this, Josh Kear said he’d always wanted to write a song called ‘Drunk on a Plane.’ And being a pilot, and also being a fan of drinking, I was like, ‘Oh my God. You’re combining my two favorite hobbies.'”
But I also wanted to know a little bit about the other 11 hits in his 12-pack. So here is what Bentley had to say about each one, starting with his first from back in 2003.
“What Was I Thinkin'”
“I still remember the day I wrote it. I still remember the day I played it acoustically outside a bar before I recorded it. I still remember sitting in a bar in Dallas when I found out it went No. 1. And I still remember some girls showing up to a show in Augusta (Georgia) wearing little white tank tops with ‘We Love Dierks’ written on them. A lot of memories with that song,” he said. “And an incredible way to get the party started.”
“Come a Little Closer”
“The day we wrote that, I thought we were gonna write a honky-tonk drinkin’ song, but when I walked into the room, Brett Beavers had started this love song. It fell out really quick. And that was the song that made Kenny Chesney call me up, tell me he’d heard it, and then say, ‘I want you to come open for me on our 2006 tour.'”
“Settle for Slowdown”
“I always felt really good about that song. It puts a twist on someone leaving. Like how you don’t really want her to come back, but you also don’t want her to rush out the door so quickly. You want her to hurt just a little bit.”
“Every Mile a Memory”
“I was writing a lot about the road during that whole time period. Just all the stuff you see out there on the road. Plus this one was the first one off Long Trip Alone, which was really a transitional record for me.”
“Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)”
“That song is still who I am. I actually walked in here today with my clothes in a trash bag and my boots in my hand,” Bentley told me, and by the way, can someone please buy this man a suitcase? “That song got us back to the fun songs, and was just something that our live show needed.”
“Feel That Fire”
“It was a love song done from a guy’s perspective. We all want the girl to feel that intensity. I want that. And I know that’s what my wife wants,” he said.
“Sideways”
“I started that song in my office, using a word that had been in my vernacular for a while. I think it was a NASCAR thing, like, ‘We’re gonna get sideways tonight.’ Once I called Jim (Beavers) with it, he added some great lines, like, ‘The velvet rope ain’t got no slack.'”
“Am I the Only One”
“After I made my bluegrass record [Up on the Ridge], we were coming back into the country universe and what I’m known for. But when we recorded this one, we mixed a lot of bluegrassy things in it.”
“Home”
“Such a big song. And it was kind of like we were trying to pack all of American history into three lines, which is hard to do. But we did. It’s the CliffsNotes of country patriotic songs,” he said, adding that patriotic songs usually scare songwriters away. “Because, after ‘God Bless the USA,’ what are you gonna do? I mean, that chapter’s done. But we went for it and we packed a lot into one song.”
“5-1-5-0”
“I had had a song called ‘Country and Cold Cans’ and I had a line in it about how we’re getting 5150,” he said of the lyric in the bridge. “Jim asked me what that meant, so I explained that it’s from Van Halen. It’s the police code for ‘crazy person.’ I saw Jim at the YMCA the next day and he was already singing this song. That track really cut through for us.” (In 1986, Van Halen had an album, a single and a home studio all named after the code.)
“I Hold On”
“I wasn’t even trying to write a song. I was just really trying to process my dad passing away. And why I am who I am. And why I hold on to old stuff with a story to tell, whether it’s boots or jeans or buses or guitars or my truck,” Bentley told me. “It’s probably my favorite No. 1 that I ever wrote.”