Long Trip Alone ~ Dierks Bentley ~ Country ~ CD ~ Good

Editorial Reviews

Bentley's third studio album, Long Trip Alone, this is an enhanced CD, which contains some of the new tracks, plus all the hits. This is a regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Dierks Bentley, who was nominated for the CMA Male Vocalist Of The Year award, has logged over 180,000 miles and more than 300 days on the road this past year, has played everything from small rock clubs to sold-out stadiums.

In the wake of 2005's Modern Day Drifter, Dierks Bentley has maintained fierce career momentum, earning awards, packing concerts, and joining the Grand Ole Opry in the space of just over a year. As before, he continues to flawlessly integrate straight-ahead, unforced vocals into a riproaring sound, underpinned this time by the solid, appealing mainstream acoustic bluegrass of touring partners the Grascals. The opening track, "Every Mile a Memory," defines the album's direction, buttressed by the witty "That Don't Make It Easy Loving Me." He projects clarity and desperation on "Trying to Stop Your Leaving," enhanced by an understated, yet appropriately tense arrangement. "Band of Brothers" celebrates the quintessential travails of musicians playing the low end of the honky-tonk circuit, while his all-inclusive, courageous views on "The Heaven I'm Headed To" may not please hardcore red-staters. The perpetual debate pitting country modernists against traditionalists often reaches the same levels of intensity as in current politics. Long Trip Alone demonstrates the smartest solution: quality modern country of the moment that simultaneously honors its past. --Rich Kienzle