How Dierks Bentley Aimed To 'Surprise' Everyone With Ashley McBryde Collab

As Dierks Bentley set out to write a song inspired by a pair of cowboy boots, he knew the lyrics needed a twist… It wasn’t long before he reached out to Ashley McBryde (now a history-making Grammy Award winner) to turn it into a duet.

Bentley recently released “Cowboy Boots,” the latest track from his highly-anticipated 10th studio album, Gravel & Gold, which is due later this month. He shared a “behind the scenes look” at the performance video — which was filmed at Robert’s Western World, a honky tonk on Lower Broadway in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee — on his social media channels. Bentley explains in the clip that McBryde was the first person he thought to ask to team up with him on the song, and “she just took it to a whole new level.”

“As a songwriter, you’re always trying to find a way to twist the idea a little bit and surprise the listener on the third verse or at the end of the song,” Bentley said. “The idea of bringing a girl into it is never a bad idea in anything, in general, and certainly in country songwriting. We were able to twist the song…and bring in that idea, it’s not just cowboys that ride away, it’s cowgirls sometimes.”

Bentley teamed up with with Casey Brown, Jordan Minton and Hunter Phelps on “Cowboy Boots.” It’s one of the latest songs to release from Gravel & Gold, following “Same Ol’ Me,” “High Note” (a “bluegrass super jam,” featuring Billy Strings, Charlie Worsham, Jerry Douglas on dobro, Sam Bush on mandolin and guitar star Bryan Sutton), and “Gold.” The 14-track album is set to release on February 24.