Dierks Bentley "Sideways" Over Partnership

Dierks Bentley photo by Jim Wright, courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

March 2, 2009 — Dierks Bentley has piled up enough successful singles at this point to have a greatest-hits album, and with "Feel That Fire" recently hitting No. 1, the pile continues to grow.

Avid liner-note readers, however, know that Dierks isn’t the only person responsible for his run of success. Brett Beavers has produced Dierks’ albums since day one, and he’s also had a hand in writing nine of the songs that have gone Top 15 for Dierks so far. Brett’s on board again as co-producer for Feel That Fire, and he’s also a co-writer on the title track. Dierks’ new single, "Sideways," was co-written with Brett's brother, Jim. Dierks says the partnership between he and Brett continues to work because they have a lot in common.

"We first started writing songs together in 2001," Dierks told The Tacoma News Tribune. "We both love Waylon [Jennings] and Hank [Williams] Jr., but we wanted to kind of give it our own spin and take it somewhere new. And so we hit it off right away. I like writing with him because it’s easy. We’re good friends, so it’s always very natural. You can say whatever you want to say and not have to worry about hurting somebody else’s feelings, so he’s been extremely helpful in that regard. We just have a real good thing worked out and going for us."

Dierks has another real good thing worked out with another friend, Brad Paisley. After headlining his own tour last year, Dierks is currently opening shows for Brad, which has forced him to compress his set list into a quick 45 minutes. It’s almost entirely made up of hits — most of them written by Brett and Dierks.

"It’s a fun show for us to play," Dierks said. "There’s zero fluff — not that there ever was, but it’s really tight."

The Paisley Party Tour wraps March 14 in Nashville, but Dierks will open for Brad again when the American Saturday Night Tour opens this summer.