Feel That Fire (US)

グラミー・ノミネートされた前作『LONG TRIP ALONE』から2年！アリゾナ出身イケメン・カントリー・シンガーの5枚目のアルバム！

Entertainment Weekly (p.57) - "Credit Bentley's broad, crackly baritone, a voice that can do sentimental -- as on richly arranged mash note 'You Hold Me Together' -- without losing an ounce of its outlaw energy." -- Grade: A- Billboard (p.33) - "'I Can't Forget Her,' with its decidedly Southwestern feel and fine storytelling, would make Marty Robbins proud." Paste (magazine) (p.67) - "FEEL THAT FIRE effortlessly runs the gamut from classic country to twang to rock and pop....As usual, Bentley co-wrote every song, and Patty Griffin joins him for a charming duet..."

Dierks Bentley is one of Nashville's best singer/songwriters of the 2000s, and part of his appeal lies in his casual display of his deep roots, how he built upon Waylon and Merle without ever seeming overly indebted by their legacy; it made him sound grounded, while his sentiments and crisp, clean sound made him seem modern. Bentley doesn't abandon this synthesis on his fourth studio album, Feel That Fire, but he does streamline and simplify it, reining in the ragged country elements and revving up the fist-pumping guitars in an apparent attempt to push beyond the country charts and into some kind of heartland rock crossover. This isn't a huge leap for Bentley, who has never been a roughneck, but he's best when he gets back to his roots and sounds as inventive and vigorous as he did his previous three albums -- when he teams up for a duet with Patty Griffin on "Beautiful World," when he co-writes with Rodney Crowell on "Pray," and, especially, when he teams up with Ronnie McCoury and his band for a rampaging, intoxicating bluegrass closer, "Last Call." These are full-blooded, substantive songs, the kind that linger in the memory. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine