Dierks Bentley: Riser (Decca Records)

RELEASED to coincide with his appearance at the C2C Country to Country Festival at the O2 Arena, a couple of weeks ago, this is Dierks Bentley’s seventh album. Here, Bentley has taken a new approach with this release incorporating old recording techniques mixed with new technology.

“I named the album Riser because the lyrics in that song perfectly articulate who I want to be, who I try to be,”

Bentley explains. “Over the past two years, I was in a place of grief over the loss of my Dad, but over the course of the 18 months, my wife and I had our son, Knox, and I ended in a place of real joy and gratefulness.”.

From the haunted opening track, Bourbon In Kentucky, through to the infectious driving beat of the final cut, Hurt Somebody, Dierks Bentley has a string of potential Number Ones standing in the wings.

The first single release, I Hold On, is at number three in the Billboard Country Airplay Charts with album sales netting Bentley his fifth number one on the Billboard Top Country Album Charts, with up to 63,000 sold so far.

It’s an album of modern contemporary music at its best.