High Note

Album: Gravel & Gold (2022)
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Songfacts®:

  • "High Note" is a rootsy five-minute song where Dierks teams up with bluegrass artist Billy Strings. The two sing about going out in a blaze of glory when Armageddon happens.

    If they ever drop the big one, I got me a plan
    I won't be in no bunker, eatin' peaches from a can
    I'll be holed up in the basement with two very special guests
    A big ol' stack of Flatt and Scruggs and a bag of Willie's best


    The pair will depart on a high note playing bluegrass and smoking weed.
  • Charlie Worsham and Jim Beavers wrote "High Note." It features traditional instruments, including banjo and fiddle, and wraps with an all-star bluegrass jam played by Jerry Douglas on dobro, Sam Bush on mandolin, and Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton on guitar.

    "Bryan Sutton first tipped me off to Billy Strings about seven years ago mentioning that the future of bluegrass was in good hands," Bentley shared. "I was totally blown away the first time I saw him. I've cut songs like these since my first record, and I knew I wanted to have him 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."
  • The song hearkens back to Bentley's 2010 bluegrass-influenced album, Up on the Ridge. That record was steeped in the bluegrass and roots music that first moved him to become a country musician.
  • Bentley filmed the energetic music video at Station Inn in Nashville. Bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe and bluegrass legends Ricky Skaggs and Ralph Stanley have all played there.

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