gravel and gold by dierks bentley | track-by-track album review

I've been wanting to start something like this for a long time. whether it was a podcast, a Youtube channel, or a blog -- I just wanted a place to archive my thoughts on all things country music. a big reason behind that was because of others I saw doing it. most prominently, Grady Smith. arguably the biggest country music Youtuber, I stumbled across Grady's channel when Dierks Bentley's The Mountain was released in 2018. I watched his review on that album and just found it so cool that there were other people who shared my affinity for country music -- and were willing to share their thoughts for me to hear. all that being said, I never really thought I would have a place in a space like that because I didn't think I had too much to say, but the more I thought about it, the more it was something I wanted to try. so I figured -- what do I have to lose? I woke up the morning after Dierks' latest album release and figured that would be the best place to start. Dierks was one of the couple artists that got me into country music and I might not be where I am today if it weren't for his music. therefore, this is probably going to be a very messy and stream-of-consciousness first blog post, but bear with me.

courtesy of @dierksbentley on Instagram

upon first listen, I loved this album. it's been so long since we've gotten a new body of work from Dierks Bentley (besides Hot Country Knights, but that's its own story), so I was really looking forward to this release and it definitely delivered. it felt nostalgic and fresh all at the same time. the only thing I could describe it as throughout the first three listens was "Classic Dierks". on the morning of the album's release, Dierks was the guest on The Bobby Bones Show's Friday Morning Conversation, where he stated that this album acts as a sort of "greatest hits" album for him, but by way of its music and production. he explained that it's a collection of all the sounds of his previous albums and I could not agree with anything more. this concept undoubtedly shines through in the collection of songs that is Gravel and Gold in the best way possible.

courtesy of @bobbybonesshow on Instagram

unlike The Mountain, Gravel and Gold isn't an album built around one particular concept, but it still works together as a pretty cohesive group of songs. there are themes of heartbreak, growing up, and general gratitude for life. however, I do feel like this album could use one or two more love songs or songs about family, especially for the stage it seems like Dierks is at in his life -- in an almost 20-year-long marriage with three kids. there are some moments like that laced throughout a couple songs, but not in an incredibly prominent way.

time has a way of changing things/different dogs and different jeans/I got brand new strings/but baby, I'm the same ol' me

Same Ol' Me is a perfect album opener, a song about how many things may have changed overtime, but he's still the same person at the core -- an incredibly fitting thesis statement for this album, being his tenth studio album.

my hands have reached for Heaven from a New York City skyline/but nothing else compares to the stardust on the snowcaps/it's the kind of place you leave/then you can't wait to go back

the second track, Sun Sets in Colorado, sounds like a b-side from The Mountain. I love the imagery and the references to all the places he's experienced. on the aforementioned interview on The Bobby Bones Show, Dierks also mentioned that he feels like he has (or once had?) a love-hate relationship with Nashville but has come to a place where he's content where he is. the hook in this song highlights that concept and continues the story of Dierks' love for Telluride, Colorado that was introduced on his 2018 album.

now I'm ninety miles from Nashville and I'm finally feeling fine/on my heartbreak drinking tour/getting over you one town at a time

Heartbreak Drinking Tour puts an interesting spin on the classic country trope of drinking to cope with a break-up. in this song, he recalls moving to California with the girl in the story, but eventually having to leave because LA didn't suit him. however, before heading back to Nashville, he hits every state on the way to drink and hopefully get over her by the time he gets home. there are some cheesy moments in the writing ("I got lit in Little Rock", I'm looking at you), but I absolutely love the production and sound on this song -- it's super smooth and lush, and I could almost hear something similar to it making its way onto a Midland record.

I can't really pour my heart out on the FM radio/'cause the way I'm really feeling/won't fill up the coliseum on the edge of Tupelo

lyrically, Something Real is my favourite song on this album. I love the honesty of the story, where Dierks is longing to experience and hear about "real" moments in songwriting and not just moments that you hear in big hit songs that ultimately hold less substance. however, I've listened to this song almost ten times now and I still can't tell how I feel about the production on it. It's one of those cases where the music sounds much happier than what the song is actually saying (another example coming to my mind right now is Thomas Rhett's Crash and Burn), but I don't know if it works in this context. I think these lyrics probably would've sounded better accompanied with more acoustic instrumentation.

I still feel at home up on some lonely hill/in the blink of an eye, my head's clear as the sky/like the trees with no breeze, my heart is still/where the world's the way God made it still

Still is another song that sounds incredibly inspired by Dierks' experiences writing The Mountain again. it's a very pretty song about being out in nature where the world appears perfect and just like God first made it. melodically, it sounds very similar to his 2012 hit Home. again, the imagery in the writing really shines and you're able to picture the exact scene he's narrating throughout the duration of the song.

I've had fun, a good run on my trips around the sun/I'm one son of a gun who's been blessed/just raise up a glass or a flask when I pass

Beer At My Funeral serves as the upbeat-drinking-party song on this album. however, it's more of a letter to the people at Dierks' funeral where he's telling them to celebrate, party, and cheers a few beers to his life rather than cry and mourn. it works well on this album and is a very Dierks Bentley-esque statement to make (it reminds me of The Mountain's album closer, How I'm Going Out, in that way, just with a bit of a more fun spin on it).

they were made to ride and ramble/they were made for desert stars/they ain't broke in 'til they've broken a few horses and some hearts

halfway through the album, we have the first duet. Cowboy Boots featuring Ashley McBryde is a song about a guy who can't seem to stay in one place, but, from the narrator's perspective, the cowboy boots are to blame because they're called "cowboy boots", and that's just what cowboys do. in the bridge of the song, we discover that the song is really about how the narrator's girl left him and he "learn[ed] the hard way that cowgirls wear [cowboy boots] too" (which is why it was also a good move to get a female vocal to sing this one alongside him). I think it's quite a clever lyric and Dierks' and Ashley's voices work well together.

it ain't a smooth ride/life, it's a winding road/it might be gravel, but it feels like gold

Gold was the lead single off of this album. while I don't think it's Dierks' best single or the best song on this album, it's pretty catchy and it makes sense that it would be pushed to radio. its main theme is gratitude and finding the good in everything around you in life. since I find this to be an overarching theme of the album, this song was a good way to introduce this project to the world.

even though I might get lonely, I'll always know I'm not alone/'cause we're all just walking each other home

Walking Each Other Home has John Osborne, one half of Brothers Osborne, as a co-writer which made me very excited. this song, to me, seems to be talking a little bit about how everything happens for a reason, which I find to be a fascinating topic. alongside that concept, it's mostly about how we all need each other to lean on to be able to survive in this world. towards the end of the song, there's a short musical breakdown that feels sort of anthemic with some swells and background vocals, which seems fitting for a song of this subject matter.

as long as we keep dreaming on a new star/life'll be wherever you and me are

Roll On was one of the tracks that didn't really stick out to me during the first few listens of the album, but now I find it getting stuck in my head and I'm singing along when it comes on. it's a cute inspirational song about exploring and adventuring and overall just chasing your dreams. I also like the instrumentation on this one and the production makes it sound like a great summer-roadtrip-highway-driving song.

it's been done at an old-school honky tonk dive/as I watched the neon burn outta her eyes/it's been done at a beach at the end of a pier/as the summer turned cold and the sun disappeared

All The Right Places has its lyrical moments. I love the imagery in the first verse of the neon burning out of the girl's eyes at the honky tonk and the summer turning cold as another girl left him alone on the pier, to the memories of carnival rides on Friday nights in the chorus. however, towards the end of the song, the hook is sang over ten times in a row, which stars to feel very repetitive and I'm not the biggest fan of.

since you been gone, it ain't all good/can't say I'm all the way out of the woods/but I'm probably doing better than I should/'cause it ain't all bad

on the other hand, Ain't All Bad is nothing lyrically special. it's basically just about living it up, partying, and reverting back to his old life before the relationship after this girl left him. it does have one of my favourite melodic moments on the album though. towards the end of the chorus, he sings "...at least I got the old me back", going half a step up each time on the last three of those words -- and I'm a sucker for anytime a song has a little part in the melody like that.

pull out that paper map/find a forgotten road/one that'll take us back in time/makes me wanna go buy an old pickup

Old Pickup was the stand-out track to me on my first listen. Dierks was not a writer on it, but I feel like it blends nostalgia and restlessness together well in a way that feels very Dierks. it kind of recalls themes from Roll On, about just wanting to abandon your responsibilities and drive around to old forgotten roads (thematically also very similar to one of my favourite Brett Eldredge songs, Hideaway). along with those themes, this song reminds me of Can't Be Replaced from his 2016 album Black for some reason. that song is all about nostalgia and remembering all the parts of his life that he can't get back. in Old Pickup, it sounds like he's longing for that same time again, and it striving to get it back by buying an old pickup that he hopes will take him back in time.

I'm going out on a high note/like a tenor in an old hillbilly band/yeah, that's my plan

High Note is the perfect closer for this album, both lyrically and sonically. it uses the imagery of the apocalypse to illustrate how the narrators ideally want to go out, which makes this closer very similar to The Mountain's closer, How I'm Going Out. this song features Billy Strings, making it a very bluegrass-y song, an obvious nod to Dierks' Up On The Ridge album and his on-going passion for the bluegrass sound.

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all in all, this album was a great way to celebrate ten studio album releases by Dierks Bentley. it thoroughly captured the best parts of his music to date and presented them in a great collection of songs. I will probably be listening to this album all the way through for a while to come and will definitely have a handful of songs that will stay with me for years.

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rating: nine out of ten cowboy boots