SOUNDS GOOD Dierks Bentley is a 14-time Grammy Award nominee, a 27-time Country Music Award nominee, the performer of 18 No. 1 country songs and the third-youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry. But he doesn't really like writing songs.
"If I'm being completely honest with my fans, it's not something I really enjoy or look forward to," Bentley said, in a phone interview with me earlier this week. The 48-year-old country star is wrapping up a two-year tour for his 2023 record "Gravel & Gold." One of the last shows will be at Moline's Vibrant Arena at The Mark on Friday night.
And if you have tickets, don't fret — touring is something that Bentley still loves. Shows don't feel like work to him anymore. They're rejuvenating.
He could do it with his eyes closed. While in the Quad-Cities, he's hoping to play some pickleball at a court near the arena. But when the tour is over, writing a song is the last thing Bentley wants to do.
"You get off the road, and it's a beautiful day outside, and I'm gonna spend the next eight hours in a small room with a couple of people trying to create something out of nothing — and most likely, we have about a 3% chance of getting a hit," he said. "We're gonna come out the door with a B-plus song, but B-plus songs aren't good enough. I need A-plus songs, but those are so hard to write.
And so it's kind of (like) spending your whole day just pounding your head against the wall to most likely get nothing to show for it." It hasn't always been that w.