As Dierks Bentley‘s “Gold” ascends the country charts, he’s looking back on his life and sharing how, in a lot of ways, he’s still the same guy, “for better or worse.”

“You feel like you’ve moved on so much and grown so much now, being [a] husband and having three kids and just musically and life and, you know, trying to practice more presence and mindfulness and all this stuff,” Dierks says. 

That’s why when his frequent collaborator Luke Dick shared the song “Same Ol’ Me” with him, he didn’t really resonate with it. “I’m not the same old man, I’m this whole new guy!” he recalls of his initial reaction.

Eventually, as the pair started penning the song with Jon Randall, Dierks realized that he, indeed, is still “in a lot of ways, the same kid” he’s always been.

“I’m still driving around the same tour bus from 2003, a lot of the same band guys, I’m playing The Station Inn on [the] first Tuesday of the month, I got the same guitar. I got some new dogs, but there’s still, there’s always a dog with me,” he notes.

“It’s kind of weird. It’s kind of sad. It’s like you feel like you’ve evolved so much and at the end of the day, like, for better or worse, still the same guy. I mean, that’s kind of pathetic,” Dierks adds in jest.

Dierks’ “Gold” is in the top two and rising on the country charts. The track and “Same Ol’ Me” are featured on his latest album, Gravel & Gold, which arrived in February.

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