The Pseudobook Review readership may know that my musical tastes tend towards the folksy side of the indie spectrum, but probably doesn’t know that when I’m alone in my car I scan the airwaves for a mainstream country station. I don’t own many country albums that aren’t by Garth Brooks, but I’ve always felt at home with the fiddles and slide guitars and drawled out vocals. And every once in a while I hear a track on the radio that gets me curious.

This time it was the title track from the new Dierks Bentley album: Up on the Ridge. The locomotive strumming, swaggered picking, and easy rolling vocals carried my right past my exit and as far away from town as I could get. I made a mental note to check out more of the album, but forgot until I was blindsided by “Love Grows Wild”. At the words “Oh I think it don’t need a lot, it just grows on what it’s got” I tried to calm myself down. Surely the rest of the album would let me down. I took the plunge, purchased the album, and again was blown clear out of town.

I’ve since been listening to Dierks and a phenomenal supporting cast on my morning runs, on my drive to work, and anytime I can find an excuse to get in my car and turn up the Ipod. Do you need a ride to the airport? I hope you like Dierks Bentley! Can I give you a lift to the store, Dad? Why don’t I just run that bill down to the post office and stick it in the mail there. And my windows will be down; anyone walking down the street will “hear the banjos ringing through the air” as Dierks sings on “Fiddlin’ Around”, “there’ll be mandolins and guitars everywhere/ Now don’t you want to be there!”

Sure I could lounge around my bedroom and play it over my speakers, but it’s not that type of music. This album literally moves me, it propels me forward into the wilderness, into my relationships, into church, and onto The Pseudobook Review to proclaim my newfound motions. “Down in the Mine” and “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) are haunting histories, “Bad Angel” and “Bottle to the Bottom” are thoughtful, bordering on metaphysical, songs of personal struggles, and “Draw Me a Map” is simply a genuine love song. There is even a brilliantly bluegrassy cover of “Pride (In The Name of Love)”! There is so much on there that I will certainly move to and be moved by Up on the Ridge for the rest of the summer, likely longer. Will you join me?

 
Posted in Uncategorized by Jimn

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