Dierks Bentley is passing on his fatherly wisdom to the next generation of artists. The proud dad of three recalls the wise words Tim McGraw told him when he was about to become a parent for the first time, words he is now sharing with Jon Pardi, who just welcomed his first child, daughter Presley Fawn, into the world.
“I remember McGraw telling me, ‘Just get your sleep now. You’ll never see the same ever again.’ And he’s right,” Bentley shared with Everything Nash and other outlets during a recent virtual media event. “Even when you’re on the road, or I was in Colorado last week. you’re always thinking about them. It’s like a piece of you is missing. And you never, ever sleep the same ever again.”
Bentley has been friends with Pardi for a long time. It was Bentley’s Riser Tour that was Pardi’s first major tour in 2014. Even then, Bentley could see the potential of Pardi to be an outstanding father someday.
“I think he’s such a great guy,” Bentley boasts. “When he was on tour with us, he was so great to my girls. And I’m so glad he had a girl first. I think the greatest thing that can happen to any guy is to have a girl as your first kid. If you have a boy, you kind of know how it is. You know what you’re going to do. A girl just completely knocks you off your rocker. You have no idea how to do it. You have to be kind of remade, and it tenderizes you in a good way. He’ll be a great dad. I love Summer. She’s so sweet. It’s just fun. It’s fun watching these guys go through this.”
Bentley hasn’t spoken to Pardi since he became a father, but when he does, he knows exactly what he will tell the new dad.
“I can’t wait to catch up with them,” Bentley says. “I’ll tell them, ‘It’s going to be six months before you get back on your feet. So just settle in for the experience.’ But it does go fast. It sure does. I can’t believe how old mine are.”
Bentley just released his tenth studio album, Gravel & Gold. The record became Bentley’s way to combine all of his influences, including bluegrass, ’90s country, traditional country and more, into one project. The Arizona native wrote, recorded, and then scrapped, two other records before creating what became Gravel & Gold.
“The only person who was going be able to do that was me,” Bentley says of making Gravel & Gold a melding of the various sounds. “So I waited another six months. And, I also needed some more songs, I felt like. I went back and I called the players and booked the studio and did the whole production thing on my own, bringing more producers in to help me complete the vision. But it was just a feel thing. Like when I sip whiskey, I can’t tell you all the different flavors; I just know good or bad or great or wow. Those are the adjectives I use. … That third time around, I was like, ‘I’ve been grinding hard enough, been back in town long enough.’
“I had a vision for what I wanted to say,” he adds. “It just all came together. It was a long process, but I’m grateful I get to work with people who don’t get their feelings hurt. Everyone wants what’s best on the album.”
Find music and tour dates at Dierks.com.
