Dierks Goes "Black" With New Album

Always pushing the envelope artistically, with Dierks Bentley's eighth studio album Black he promises to bring more of that bold edginess, saying "I had to dig deep...and record songs that explore the shadows and edges of the heart."

He's never been one to put out a record for the sole purpose to sell records or garner radio airplay (Remember Grammy-nominated "Up On The Ridge?").

“I ask myself all the time, ‘Why keep doing this?’ If I wasn’t exploring or finding something to write about that was personal or meant something, there’d be no reason. If I was ever making a record just to make a record, or ever just like, ‘Just put something out there that someone will buy,’ I would quit. I really would.”

That's the reason we love and support our DB Congress President and will be Dierks fans for life!

It's not surprising that Black will be about his personal relationships, giving us an in-depth account of his ten-year marriage to wife, Cassidy, whose maiden name (coincidentally?) is Black.

"Some people associate red with love, but to me red is for an earlier stage of a relationship,” Bentley says. “Black is much deeper, to me. It’s certainly the sexiest color. [And] this record has a sexiness, in a well-worn leather-jacket kind of way. It’s not glossy sexy—there’s a realness to it.  A lot of it happens after dark, in the black of night.  The kicker is that my wife’s last name is Black."

Watch the Black album trailer here.  Listen to the background music.  We're thinking it's possibly from the title cut.  What do you think?  If so, we're loving the edgy sound!

"The songs on Black range from the lonesomeness of an impossible relationship to ones that describe the feeling of finding that person that makes you forget the one that broke your heart."

The Lead Single

Although not officially announced yet via DB's camp, according to All Access Music, the lead single from Black will be "Somewhere On A Beach" going for radio adds January 25, 2016.  Co-written by Jaron Boyer, David Kuncio, Josh Mirenda, Alex Palmer and Michael Tyler Spragg, we've been told the title is deceiving.  Decide for yourself--set your DVR's for The Ellen Show for Tuesday, January 19, where Dierks is expected to perform the new single. Songwriter, Josh Mirenda posted on our Facebook page that he hears it's pretty good!

We also believe all the iHeart radio stations will be giving airplay to SOAB every hour, on the half hour on Tuesday as well, based on a tweet from AJ and Ashley (K92 in Orlando):

You can also tune in via the iHeart app on Tuesday if you don't have a local iHeart Radio station, and we'd be surprised if SiriusXM's the Highway didn't debut it hourly, too! (This will easily be Dierks' most-added and highest debuting single to date!)

Black was produced by Ross Copperman (Riser producer and co-writer on Tip It On Back), who also is listed as a co-writer on the title cut, along with Bentley and Ashley Gorley.  According to Windmills Music, other registered tracks that could possibly be album cuts include eleven more from Copperman.  Check out the rest of the list here.

The Black Card

Leave it to Dierks' Red Light Management team and Kevin Grace, Manager of Digital & Content, to find a creative way to promote the new album and build excitement.  You can order your very own "Black" Card that will pay for your pre-order of the album and get you access to unreleased songs, one of a kind merch items, special discounts, bonus videos and other surprises.  You also get entry into the official All Access Black Ticket Sweepstakes to win a fly-away to opening night of the tour, hotel accommodations, a meet and greet with Dierks and the ultimate prize of two tickets to every show on the tour!

Once you receive your Black Card in the mail, it will give you a unique code that you can use to access the exclusive Black Card content. Each time Dierks releases new content to the Black Card Content Page, an email will be sent to your account updating you about the new content.  Get yours at dierks.com for $16.99.

The Black album will ship within the next couple months.  We're guessing for a mid to late March release date, to align with the ACM Awards timing, where he will co-host with Luke Bryan April 3.

On Monday, Dierks took time out of his busy schedule to chat with fans on Twitter about the upcoming album.  He replied to questions from several DB Congress reps!  Here are a few of our favorites:

Rita is a DBC Rep in Ireland

Harriett reps Dierks in North Carolina

Lilian is a DBC rep in Brazil!

Dierks is currently up for a Grammy for his collaboration with Eric Paslay on Charles Kelley's single, "The Driver."