Dierks Bentley Thought Elle King Would Hate Him Before Duet
Elle King said in a recent interview that Dierks Bentley is responsible for her switch to country music. She says that she loves being a part of the country music family.
We recently chatted with Dierks about his new album Gravel & Gold, and he told us how he found King for the 2016 collaboration “Different For Girls,” which won a CMA Award in 2016 for Vocal Event of The Year. In 2017, the duet was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.
He told us, “When you’ve got a collaboration on a record, we had the song ‘Different For Girls,’ and I was looking for who could make the song bigger than it is. I’m lucky to have had collaborations with Maren (Morris ) and Kacey (Musgraves) but that one was just trying to find someone that no one else was using.”
Bentley continued, “You know, you see Miranda on a lot of stuff, and it was like, ‘Is there anyone out there no one is talking about, maybe in a different genre?’ I knew the song ‘X’s and Oh’s,’ and I was talking to my manager, and her name came up. And I said, ‘How do we get in touch with her? She’d be awesome, although she seems kind of crazy, and she probably would hate us.'”
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Dierks explained how the duet ended up working out. He said, “I made the call and sent her a text message, and she was totally into it. I didn’t realize she was in Nashville before, so she was already familiar with the landscape. She kind of had a bad experience the last time she was here, and that’s why she left. But she was in Texas working on something, and I flew down to Texas and met her in the studio there. And we got the vocal I needed, and it was a fun hang.”
He continued, “And then I met her in Brooklyn to shoot the video and more hangs and more fun, and I really started liking her a lot. Then she came to Nashville for (CMA) Music Fest, and she was wearing a trucker’s hat and tattoos, and it was just a really easy connection. We really get along well.”
Bentley says Elle is a wonderful addition to country music, adding, “She’s great; I can’t say enough good things about her and the importance of having characters like her in country music.”
Dierks and King just got nominated this week for their video “Worth A Shot” for the 2023 CMT Music Awards. They are up for in the Video of the Year and the Collaborative Video of the Year. Bentley shared King’s post on Twitter, writing, “We have the best fans. Y’all make sure to go vote!!!”
We have the best fans. Y’all make sure to go vote!!! https://t.co/1e7hkEC6mc
— Dierks Bentley (@DierksBentley) March 8, 2023