Dierks Bentley Celebrates 14th No. 1 Song With ‘Somewhere on a Beach’
Dierks Bentley's career continues to soar, as the singer celebrated his 14th No. 1 song with "Somewhere on a Beach" on Wednesday (July 20) in Nashville.
The debut single off his latest album Black, "Somewhere on a Beach" also happens to be his fastest rising single to date. Bentley joined songwriters Michael Tyler, Alexander Palmer, Dave Kuncio, Josh Mirenda and Jaron Boyer at South to honor the song's success.
Before the reception, where each of the songwriters and Bentley were given plaques to commemorate the occasion, Bentley told Taste of Country that his decision to record a song he didn't write himself often reflects whether he can see himself performing it indefinitely.
"You want something that you always want to sing for the rest of your career," he shares as his criteria of recording an outside cut. "You never want to put something out there that I feel like I have to sing."
Bentley says it's important to choose a great song, and "Somewhere on a Beach" was a career song for him. A unique record, he adds that the track sounds different than any other beach song out there. He further explains that before deciding whether to put a song on his album or release it as a single, he listens to everyone around him.
"I bounce songs off everyone from [manager] Mary [Hilliard Harrington] and [publicist] Tyne [Parrish] at the Green Room, my home, my girls, which ones the kids sing along to. We would sit around the house and listen to 'Somewhere on a Beach' and I would mute the lines about 'naughty' and 'she's got a body' and then [UMG Nashville Chairman and CEO] Mike Dungan told me, 'You cannot connect your personal life with your career. You can't tie those two together. They have to be separate. You have to treat them separately.'"
Several of the songwriters of "Somewhere on a Beach" were experiencing their first No. 1 party in Nashville. Both Alexander Palmer and Dave Kuncio, who have had hits in the pop and hip-hop genres and are celebrating their first country No. 1 with "Somewhere on a Beach," are based in Los Angeles, but frequently travel to Nashville to write.
"Nashville is the only place where you treat songwriters seriously and respect them for their craft," Palmer explains. "In L.A. you can be the biggest producer in the world and you walk down the street and nobody knows who you are. Here the publishers put up banners with your face on it."
Meanwhile, Kuncio says that there is a sense of community in Nashville being a songwriter.
"They really celebrate the songwriter here," he observes. "Even if you don't work in music, people still have a pulse on the songwriting community and people are involved in the songs. To be a part of something like this where you really get noticed for your work, it feels really good."
After speaking with the press, Bentley and the songwriters attended a reception where each person had time at the microphone to thank everyone who has helped them along the way. Humbled by his first No. 1 as a songwriter, first cut and first tour name with "Somewhere on a Beach," Mirenda told the room of friends, family and industry professionals the power of dreaming big.
"Keep on dreaming because dreams come true, clearly," he conceded.
See Pictures From Dierks Bentley's Country Music Hall of Fame Exhibit
You Think You Know Dierks Bentley?