Dierks Bentley Won’t Be Singing Breland’s ‘Beers on Me’ High Notes at His Solo Shows: ‘I Tried’
The summer 2022 leg of Dierks Bentley's Beers on Me Tour kicks off next month, and of course, the show wouldn't be complete its titular song: "Beers on Me," Bentley's No. 1 hit collaboration with Breland and Hardy.
During the last string of Beers on Me Tour dates, Bentley had a nightly assist from Breland when he performed the song, as his duet partner was also a tour opener. But this time around, Ashley McBryde and Travis Denning are tapping in as the new cast of opening acts, which means that Bentley will have to fly solo on "Beers on Me."
At past solo shows, Bentley's made an attempt or two to pull off Breland's high, vocal run-filled third verse — and it hasn't always gone well, he admits.
"I tried to do the Breland thing for a while and just totally stopped. It was so bad. I used to try it, and it was just embarrassing," the singer says. "So now no one sings the Breland verse. I sing Hardy's verse, which I can do pretty well, and then there's a little tag in the song — "Come get a Bud Heavy, Busch Light / Kill a cold Miller, Blue Moon, Red Stripe..." — I move that into the third verse. That was supposed to be the third verse anyway."
For those who haven't heard the story of how "Beers on Me" was written, Bentley and a team of songwriters, including Hardy, completed the song before asking Breland to sing on it, but then cleared out the third verse so that he could write his own. In the studio version, the lyrics that originally were in the third verse have moved to "a little outro thing," Bentley explains.
But when he performs it live, the country star reverts back to performing the song as originally written, because Breland's part is a little too high, and a little too uniquely suited to the singer for Bentley to perform it.
"If you wanna hear the Breland verse, you better go see a Breland show," Bentley jokes.
On the other hand, maybe not: When he hits the road this summer, Bentley's got an idea of who might be able to sub in for Breland on those high notes. "Or my son Knox, or [daughter] Jordan, one of them could probably try to take that verse," he speculates.
Bentley's kids have a history of jumping onstage with him sometimes, so it's certainly a possibility that one of them might try their hand at "Beers on Me."
"Knox could maybe rock the third verse. We'll see if we can make it a thing, if he wants to try and sing the third verse," Bentley hints, quickly adding that that's all hypothetical for now — his kids haven't been doing any actual rehearsing just yet. "But Knox, I was telling him ... 'If you wanna come out, this would be a good one to come out on.' Someone's gotta sing that third verse. So, we'll see."
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