What do Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves and Brandi Carlile have in common? Wait, don’t forget to add Karen Fairchild, Patty Griffin, Miranda Lambert and Alison Krauss.
Throw Elle King in for good measure. All of these women have been featured collaborators on Dierks Bentley’s studio albums, and lately he’s selected female artists on the cusp of a major breakthrough.
How does he know?!
“I’ve been really lucky,” he says, pointing out that he’s worked with “not just people that have record deals, but great songwriters, too. Jessi Alexander, Heather Morgan — just a lot of great singer-songwriters.”
Come on Dierks, luck? Songs with Morris, Musgraves and Carlile dropped just before each exploded, which means they were envisioned and recorded months prior. Heck, even Little Big Town weren’t the group we know them as today when Fairchild cut “When You Gonna Come Around” with Bentley for his 2012 Home album. Give yourself some credit, son!
“Kacey came a long time ago I guess,” Bentley says with absolute modesty. “I just liked her voice and thought she’d be great on that particular song. Maren came in a couple albums ago and same thing. They both just came in by themselves, which is great. They parked the car and walked into the studio.”