Dierks Bentley Explains Why He Never Shies Away From His Faith With His Music

Dierks Bentley doesn’t shy away from including faith and Jesus in his music.

The country music star joined the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast to talk about his new album Broken Branches, some of his favorite songs on the track list, the Hot Country Knights and adding humor to his music, being friends with Cross Canadian Ragweed frontman Cody Canada, having his pilot’s license, being a dad, hangover cures, sports and more.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out Broken Branches yet, I personally could not recommend it enough. It’s full of heart and humor, and it features more than a couple of impressive collaborations. And the clever, witty songwriting across the board is some of the best that Dierks and the writers that helped with the project have ever brought to a Dierks Bentley project.

One of those standout tracks is the reimagining of the hymn and the song that everyone got stuck in their head at Vacation Bible School: “Jesus Loves Me.” You might think you know what to expect going into it, but the song keeps you on your toes and boasts quite the twist.

Here it is in case you haven’t had the time to check it out just yet:

That “Drown out your Dear John with some Matthew, Mark, and Luke” gets a 10 out of 10 from me.

As it turns out, when Dierks was putting together the album, he didn’t even have the title track locked in yet. But he knew that he was looking to include themes of brokenness and faith, and it was almost as if he was being guided from above when the puzzle pieces of Broken Branches started to come together:

“When I heard the song… again I tried to find some sort of theme to wrap the album around. I found ‘Broken Branches.’ I didn’t write that song… (but) that really became the theme. So this Jesus, small town, broken branches (and) leaving and searching, that spiritual component was really important.”

So “Jesus Loves Me” was a natural fit to the album that is basically a love letter to those that have ever felt lost or broken themselves. And when we asked if it was intentional to include a song about Jesus in this album – or include any faith-based song in any of his work – Dierks Bentley answered with this:

“Absolutely. I wrote a song that didn’t make this record called ‘The Older I Get, The Longer I Pray.’ I think the older you get, the more gratitude you have for your blessings, and you recognize that every day is a gift. Getting some of that into the album, especially with this theme, was really important.”

@whiskeyriff Never shied away from faith in his music. // Listen to the full Whiskey Riff Raff podcast with @dierksbentley available now on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube now. #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff #dierksbentley #countrymusic ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff

It’s a shame “The Older I Get, The Longer I Pray” didn’t make the new album… but I’ve got faith that it’ll see the light of day at some point. You can hear more from Dierks Bentley on his faith and all things Broken Branches in the newest episode of Whiskey Riff Raff.

Download the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or click here.

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Cheers, y’all.

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