“I never want to lose the audience's attention or break up the party, but at the …” — Dierks Bentley

I'm part of the party, getting the crowd fired up, singing songs, pouring drinks, whatever it takes to get them to have a good time. When I walk into the meet-and-greet, someone's always going to have a story, a sad story or a happy story.

Where I'm at in my relationship with my wife or my family and life in general, I feel like it all comes out in the music. Hopefully, it's always there, but in an ambiguous and abstract way and not real straightforward.

Most of my read on America is through looking through the front windshield of a bus and hanging out with country music fans backstage.

When you go to the Opry for a show or hear it on the radio, you get the whole circle of country music.