The second single from country musician Dierks Bentley's sixth Capitol Nashville album was penned by the singer with
Dan Wilson and Brett Beavers. Semisonic lead singer Dan Wilson's most successful contribution as a songwriter was a co-writing credit on Adele's Hot 100 chart-topper, "
Someone Like You." He is best known in country circles for co-penning some of the Dixie Chicks' 2006 album
Taking the Long Way, which won the Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. Amongst his credits on that record is the hit single, "
Not Ready To Make Nice."
Texas songwriter Brett Beavers has been Dierks Bentley's main songwriting partner since 2001.The partnership has produced several number one Hot Country Songs, plus a BMI Award Most Performed Song for "
Trying To Stop Your Leaving."
Former Drive-By Truckers Jason Isbell alleged that "Home" is a rip-off of his song "In A Razor Town" from his 2007 solo album, Sirens Of The Ditch. After raising the issue on Twitter, he followed it up by calling Dan Wilson a "super smart songwriter" before adding, "I bet he's never heard my song. I bet Dierks brought that idea to the table and Dan ran with it."
The two parties then engaged in a Twitter war. We were tickled by Bentley's response to one tweet, which reads: "JUST IN: "Nashville and LA songwriters running out of ideas..rushing to steal jason songs!"
Bentley said that he hoped the song would resonate with Americans facing challenges in 2011. "One of the best parts of being a traveling musician is getting to meet people from all over the country and hear about what's happening in their lives and their towns... the struggles and the joys," he explained. They're the inspiration for this song. The lyrics speak to the challenges we've had as a country, but hopefully the song leaves you feeling inspired and optimistic."
The stirring, patriotic video shows a variety of images capturing different aspects of Dierks' home country. "Home means so many things to so many different people," he said. "For my dad, who fought in World War II, it means one thing, and for my daughter, it means something as simple as playing in the park with her friends. For this video, we wanted to incorporate iconic images of America, but also capture the spirit of our country and the things that make it great."
This was conceived as an "inclusive patriotic song." The word "America" doesn't appear in the lyric, which was intentional.
The three songwriters were working on a lyric for another tune when Bentley was called away by his wife asking for help starting her car. Dan Wilson spoke about the origins of the song in a ASCAP interview: "I think Brett started strumming something and I might have played a chord on the piano, and in about five minutes, we had the verse melody, which was mostly Brett, but I think it was inspired by the piano," he said. "When Dierks came back in, we played him this thing. And he said, 'when did you come up with that?'"
Bentley told NPR that the first thing he thought of when he started writing this song was the 2011 shooting of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona. Dierks, who is a native of Arizona, wanted to write a song that was about the anger he felt, as well as the need for healing.
This single by the Arizona-born Bentley was chosen as the official song for his home state's centennial celebration.
This became Bentley's ninth country #1 single when it climbed to the top position of Billboard's Country Songs chart dated March 24, 2012.
After Dan Wilson wrote songs with the Dixie Chicks, he took some heat from many in the Nashville community who felt their music was undermining America. Wilson abandoned the city, doing most of his work from Los Angeles or his home town of Minneapolis. The session for this song brought him back to the city.
