Dierks Bentley Still Paying His Band & Crew Full Salaries During Pandemic

Dierks Bentley stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to talk about his new song, what he’s been up to during the pandemic, and his top streaming songs.

The pandemic may have stopped artists from touring, but it hasn’t stopped them from releasing all kinds of new music. Bentley is no exception. He dropped a new song “Gone” today and shared with Bobby Bones that he has a new producer on this song to make his new music sound a little different from his previous cuts.

As for his previous cuts, Bentley’s most streamed song is “Drunk On A Plane.” Ironically, Bentley shared that he never thought the song would work as a single when they wrote it. He thought “rednecks don’t fly,” so he didn’t think the country music audience would relate to the song. Obviously, he ended up being wrong.

Bentley has been spending the pandemic in Colorado with his family, but when things return to a new normal, he’ll move back to Nashville. Although they aren’t touring, Bentley told Bones that he is still paying his band and crew guys their full salaries during the pandemic. He’s been spending his time away from the road picking up a new hobby, skateboarding. He decided to pick it up because of his son and he’s gotten pretty decent at it.

Before his successful career as a country artist, Bentley worked at TNN, now known as CMT. He was working in the video department, pulling VHS tapes of concert recordings. He shared that he saw performances and things from massive country artists that he never would have seen otherwise. And the Urban Legend about him sneaking into the Grand Ole Opry is mostly true. Through his work, he got the opportunity to attend Grand Ole Opry shows. However, he went to so many of them that the Opry had to tell his work that he could no longer be the attendee from their company. Fast forward to October 1, 2005, Bentley became an official member of the Grand Ole Opry as an artist.