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“High Note”: Dierks Bentley’s new Billy Strings collab features the who’s who of bluegrass greats

By Carena Liptak Nov 18, 2022 | 12:00 PM


Capitol Records Nashville

Dierks Bentley leans into his rootsy side in “High Note,” a duet with Grammy-winning bluegrass star Billy Strings.

Billy provides raucous vocal harmony on this twangy barnburner, and that isn’t all: He also demonstrates his famed guitar chops with a special instrumental feature. In fact, the song doubles as an all-star bluegrass jam session, with the legendary Jerry Douglas on dobro, Sam Bush on mandolin and acoustic flatpicker Bryan Sutton furnishing another guitar line.

It was Bryan who first introduced Dierks to Billy’s talents about seven years ago, the country star explains in a statement, saying that it started with a comment from Bryan that “the future of bluegrass was in good hands.”

Dierks continues, “I’ve cut songs like this since my first record, and I knew I wanted to have [Billy] on this one, I’m such a huge fan. It was a lot of fun to have him, Jerry, Sam and Bryan all passing licks around — having them all on this record means a lot to me personally.”

“High Note” follows “Gold,” the first single off of Dierks’ upcoming new album.

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