Dierks Bentley Learns to Enjoy the Ride in New Song ‘Gold’

Dierks Bentley focuses on the positive and keeps a little pep in his step with the upbeat new single “Gold,” which will appear on the singer’s upcoming 10th album. No date or title have been announced for the project, which is projected to arrive early in 2023.

“Gold” is as bright as its namesake precious metal, a jangling country-rock tune that’s big on 12-string guitar and slide licks. “It ain’t a smooth-ride life, it’s a winding road,” Bentley sings in the chorus, which cranks up the energy in a way that’s calibrated to get beers raised at summer concerts. In the accompanying video, filmed backstage while on tour, triple threat Charlie Worsham joins Bentley for the performance.

Bentley’s most recent single “Beers on Me” was a collaboration with Breland and Hardy, though it’s unclear if that song or 2020 single “Gone” will appear on the new album. A release notes that Bentley worked with several of his longtime collaborators, including Ross Copperman, Reid Shippen, and Jon Randall. His most recent studio album is 2019’s The Mountain.

In 2021, Bentley got back on the road and played a few smaller club shows before taking on the open-air amphitheaters he’s used to headlining, determined to give fans something new from his two decades of recordings.

“For me it’s Tetris. Just finding the right flow, changing it up from the years before,” he told Rolling Stone. “I just think about those people, those hardcore fans down front that have seen 10 shows last year or the last time you were on tour and they can tell the same segues. That makes me self-conscious, if I do something I’ve already done before. I feel like I’m cheating them out of a new show.”