These Are the Days: Dierks Bentley: Long Trip Alone Review

Long Trip Alone, Dierks Bentley's latest release was a rare CD purchase for me (Actually a gift.). This summer Mandy & I rolled out to the new amphitheatre in Oshkosh to check out my man Dierks. Surprisingly it was my 1^st time, although I previously have been huge fans of songs such as What Was I Thinkin’ & Settle for a Slowdown. It was a kick ass show just as Every Mile A Memory was hitting the airwaves (Mandy & I were the only 2 people in the crowd screaming it at the top of our lungs.). Bentley’s strongest attributes seem to be his ability to write, slow, up-tempo, & just plain bars songs that simply rock. Although there are some deficiencies, Long Trip Alone is a fairly strong disc. Here is the song break down…

1. Every Mile A Memory

Every Mile was the 1^st single & shot to #1 on the country charts pretty quickly. It was one of my 2 or 3 favorite songs to come out this summer because it looks at life a lot like I do. “Every mile, a memory; every song, another scene, / From some old movie going back in time you and me. / Every day, a page turned down; every night, a lonesome sound, / Like a freight train rollin' through my dreams: / Every mile, a memory.” Sometimes I find myself laying in bed thinking of my past almost as though it where a movie.

2. Can’t Live It Down

I am a huge fan of this song & it has the quality ti ride the music charts. I almost look at it as a theme song for me. It is all about taking chances, seeing where they go, & riding the results. “Hey I might be makin' me a reputation / Of goin' my own way & / I can't live it down / Got the throttle wide open gonna live it up knowin'

In this life you only / Get one go around / &I can't live it down”

3. Long Trip Home

Obviously a the title track & a good one at that.. A little ballad that I interpret to be a guy asking for a lost love back, “So maybe you could walk with me a while / & maybe I could rest beneath your smile / Everybody stumbles sometimes & needs a hand to hold / 'Cause it's a long trip alone.”

4. That Don't Make It Easy Loving Me

He played this in concert, however I am not a huge fan of the song. It is about Direks hooking up with random friendly women at shows, “I forgot what I was singin' when she met me with her meet-me-later gaze / When she threw it on my mic stand I figured they were probably double-D's / That might make for a good story man / But that don't make it easy lovin' me.”

5. Soon As You Can

A good little tune about all the crazy things you’ll do to be with the woman you love.

6. Trying To Stop Your Leaving

Decent song about watching someone leaving your life & trying to stop the inevitable.

7. Hope For Me Yet

Ok song about a woman turning around a guy’s life.

8. The Heaven I'm Headed To

I am a huge fan of this song. It looks at going to Heaven a lot the way I do. “Heaven I'm headed to / There's a place for preachers, thieves & prostitutes / Saints & soldiers, beggars, kings & renegades / For any soul that ever found amazing grace / Ain't no tellin' who on earth He might include / In the heaven I'm headed to.”

9. Free & Easy (Down The Road I Go)

This is a really good song that will definitely be released as a single. I find myself singing it to myself all the time. It is just a carefree song about taking life as it goes that has made it to the few, the proud, the Dustin Away Message. “Ain't no tellin' where the wind might blow / Free & easy down the road I go / Livin' life like a Sunday stroll / Free & easy down the road I go / Free & easy down the road I go”

10. Band Of Brothers

Brutally honest…terrible song.

11. Prodigal Son’s Prayer

I am a big fan of Bluegrass music. Dierks did a 3 or 4 song Bluegrass set in concert & it featured this song, a collaboration with the Grascals. Probably the bets song on the whole disc.

With Tim McGraw’s 1^st greatest hits CD being an A+, I’d give Long Trip Alone a B/B+. Initially I would have graded lower due to a few not so hot songs, however the hit song pull the disc up. It dropped a few weeks ago, pick it up!

Currently Playing…
“Long Trip Alone”
By Dierks Bentley