Single Review: Dierks Bentley – ‘Drunk On A Plane’
2 min read
If you watch the ABC drama Nashville, you’ve probably got a little insight into the inner-workings of the high-stakes hit factory that is modern American country music. The characters on the show, loosely based on the real-life figureheads of Music City, are constantly battling themselves and each other for radio play, coveted gig slots and their claim to the fickle fanbase that makes up one of the biggest, but essentially still self-contained markets in music today. Meanwhile back in the real world, artists like Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and T-Swizzle (or for the uninitiated, Taylor Swift) are crossing over to huge mainstream success and from his seventh studio album Riser, Arizona native Dierks Bentley once again takes a swing with the sincere, but still lighthearted single Drunk On A Plane.
It’s a classic story-song (one of the perennial tenets of country music) wherein Bentley books a romantic getaway to Mexico with his new wife who, as fate would have it, dumps him before the trip and leaves him to drown his sorrows in the sky. The “drunk” theme is sympathetically reinforced by some hazy slide guitar and a raucous sing-along chorus and structurally, Drunk On A Plane is aimed squarely at country radio. Thankfully there’s a happy ending to the tale with Dierks “buying drinks for everybody but the pilot” and scoring some sympathy lovin’ from a stewardess before getting off the plane and telling his ex to “kiss my ass”.
If you aren’t a fan of country, then this may not be up your alley as it’s pretty down-the-line Nashville and doesn’t really have its sights set on conquering the Billboard pop charts like many of his contemporaries, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Dierks Bentley is one of those guys who’s happy to keep the spirit of country and the artform of the “song” alive in a world of ratchet-ass EDM and vacuous flavor-of-the-month indie supernovas and he’s seemingly having a pretty great time doing so.
