Dierks Bentley celebrates the holidays in a big way. The father of three surprised even himself by how much he embraced the holiday traditions once he had children of his own.
“Christmas didn’t lose any of its real meaning, as far as its religious meaning with Jesus’ birthday. But as far as the whole tree and all of the Christmas spirit stuff, the secular stuff, it just kind of goes away to be honest,” Bentley tells his record label, explaining how he approached the Christmas season before he became a dad.
“But then you have a family, and all of a sudden, it’s like I’m all Clark Griswold out there decorating the tree, putting lights up around the house,” he continues. “So, all of those things that you did as a kid and appreciated as a kid, you get a chance to do over again when you have kids, because you kinda become one again.”
One of Bentley’s favorite traditions with his family is to drive around looking at all of the decked-out houses, adorned with Christmas lights.
“[I] love seeing all the lights back in the valley, back in Arizona and Phoenix where I’m from, and that tradition is carried over to here for me in Nashville,” the “Gold” singer says. “We’ve got a lot of lights up on the house. We’ve got a Grinch in the front yard, as well as a talking Santa, so new traditions here in Nashville and some old ones, as well.”
Born and raised in Phoenix, Bentley was never used to having a white Christmas, but he was used to having a nontraditional way to celebrate the holiday.
“Me and my family and a couple of other families would go out to the desert and bring a big turkey and just kind of have a cookout in the middle of the desert…and drink beers and ride four-wheelers,” Bentley recalls, adding that he was legally too young to imbibe. “I wouldn’t drink beers, but they would. We’d ride four-wheelers and horses and just kind of spend it out in the middle of the desert, which was kind of a cool way to spend Christmas.
“So, whenever I think of Christmas, I always think of the desert,” he adds, “which is a little weird, but that’s just the way we did it out in Arizona.”
Bentley’s latest single, “Something Real,” was released in June. The song is from his Gravel & Gold album, out in February.
“I wrote this song out in Colorado where I really go to recharge and get closer to the source, that being nature, those mountains and the great outdoors,” Bentley explained. “I wrote this with some friends of mine that flew out there to write with me. HARDY was out there, Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley and Luke Dick, and I had this idea, brought it to these guys and they took it to a whole new place.”
Find all of Bentley’s music and upcoming shows at Dierks.com.
