Latest news with #BrokenBranches
Forbes
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Dierks Bentley's New Album Suffers A Disappointing Start On The Charts
Dierks Bentley's Broken Branches misses the Billboard 200, marking the first time a major label ... More album of his has failed to chart on the main tally. NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 08: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Dierks Bentley performs during CMA Fest 2025 at the main stage at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic) For years, Dierks Bentley was regarded as one of the biggest names in country music. For well over a decade, every time he released a new full-length, it rocketed straight into the top 10 on many of Billboard's albums charts, and every project became a bestseller. The singer-songwriter reached a new low with his previous album in 2023, but it's his latest set that truly disappoints, as it arrives — or more accurately, misses — important rankings. Dierks Bentley Misses the Billboard 200 Bentley released his new album Broken Branches on June 13. Now that its first full tracking frame has passed, the project debuts on a handful of Billboard lists. Sadly, it completely misses the Billboard 200, the main ranking of the most consumed full-lengths and EPs in the U.S. Luminate reports that the last title on the Billboard 200 this week, the Moana soundtrack, shifted 8,500 equivalent units. That means Bentley's latest project didn't quite move that many copies in its first week of availability, as its opening sum was not shared by the data company. A Career First: Dierks Bentley Misses the Main Chart Bentley has never seen one of his major label albums fail to crack the Billboard 200. His debut full-length Don't Leave Me in Love, which dropped in 2001 on an independent label, never charted. His 2003 self-titled follow-up — his first for Capitol Nashville — rose to No. 26 and was eventually certified platinum. The singer-songwriter's next eight projects all reached the Billboard 200's top 10, with Black bringing him to the runner-up space, his all-time peak. Gravel & Gold, which arrived in February 2023, missed the mark as it peaked at No. 73. That still stands as his career-low point on the Billboard 200, as his latest doesn't even make it onto the tally. Broken Branches Finds Some Success Broken Branches does manage to debut on both the Top Album Sales and Top Country Albums charts. On those rankings, Bentley's latest opens at Nos. 27 and 41, respectively. Luminate reports that the country artist's new set sold a little more than 3,800 copies in its first seven days of availability, which places it almost perfectly in the middle of the 50-spot Top Album Sales roster.
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
Music Review: Dierks Bentley's 'Broken Branches' offers safe, familiar, cold beer country
Nashville hitmaker Dierks Bentley has delivered 'Broken Branches,' his eleventh studio album that leans into some well-tread country rock territory, the kind that invariably involves broken hearts, trucks and a cold beer. Look, Bentley knows what he's doing. The album is 11-tracks of catchy, country rock radio filler and there's not much mystery to its musical roadmap. But therein lies his calling card: Dependable songs with few rough edges. Thematically, many of the tracks on the superstar's latest effort hint at internal struggles, but allow Bentley and the listener to escape them unscathed. 'Jesus Loves Me' is an admirable acoustic slow burn about finding religion but losing a woman. 'Thought maybe if I hit my knees / She'd think about hitting the brakes,' Bentley sings. There is slight salvation for the Phoenix-born singer: 'Yeah, Jesus loves me / But she don't.' On the title track, the jukebox stomp 'Broken Branches,' Bentley gets a nice assist from fellow country hitmakers John Anderson and Riley Green. Ostensibly it's an energetic drinking song about family lines, but lyrics like 'We shoulda gone to college / Coulda gained a little knowledge,' which pull from a popular childhood rhyme, feel like they're underperforming. What Bentley does extremely well is execute what his — and the modern genre's — biggest fans might expect. Tales of a tough exterior with a warm, if fragile, heart underneath. But his familiar is derivative. Palatable country is how you get on the radio and stay on it. Songs about beer and trucks are Spotify deliverables. If you like your country artists with a longer rap sheet, you'll need to look further than 'Broken Branches.' Even the few attempts at invention don't totally land, like the rowdy, rocking 'She Hates Me,' which includes a surprising interpolation of post-grunge band Puddle of Mudd's 2001 hit 'She (Expletive) Hates Me.' If there's a pleasant find here, it's Stephen Wilson Jr. duetting with Bentley on the opening track, 'Cold Beer Can.' It's the most memorable song on the album — with its plucky instrumentation and ascendant chorus, which showcase Wilson Jr.'s rich voice and guitar talents.
San Francisco Chronicle
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Music Review: Dierks Bentley's 'Broken Branches' offers safe, familiar, cold beer country
Nashville hitmaker Dierks Bentley has delivered 'Broken Branches,' his eleventh studio album that leans into some well-tread country rock territory, the kind that invariably involves broken hearts, trucks and a cold beer. Look, Bentley knows what he's doing. The album is 11-tracks of catchy, country rock radio filler and there's not much mystery to its musical roadmap. But therein lies his calling card: Dependable songs with few rough edges. Thematically, many of the tracks on the superstar's latest effort hint at internal struggles, but allow Bentley and the listener to escape them unscathed. 'Jesus Loves Me' is an admirable acoustic slow burn about finding religion but losing a woman. 'Thought maybe if I hit my knees / She'd think about hitting the brakes,' Bentley sings. There is slight salvation for the Phoenix-born singer: 'Yeah, Jesus loves me / But she don't.' On the title track, the jukebox stomp 'Broken Branches,' Bentley gets a nice assist from fellow country hitmakers John Anderson and Riley Green. Ostensibly it's an energetic drinking song about family lines, but lyrics like 'We shoulda gone to college / Coulda gained a little knowledge,' which pull from a popular childhood rhyme, feel like they're underperforming. What Bentley does extremely well is execute what his — and the modern genre's — biggest fans might expect. Tales of a tough exterior with a warm, if fragile, heart underneath. But his familiar is derivative. Palatable country is how you get on the radio and stay on it. Songs about beer and trucks are Spotify deliverables. If you like your country artists with a longer rap sheet, you'll need to look further than 'Broken Branches.' Even the few attempts at invention don't totally land, like the rowdy, rocking 'She Hates Me,' which includes a surprising interpolation of post-grunge band Puddle of Mudd's 2001 hit 'She (Expletive) Hates Me.' If there's a pleasant find here, it's Stephen Wilson Jr. duetting with Bentley on the opening track, 'Cold Beer Can.' It's the most memorable song on the album — with its plucky instrumentation and ascendant chorus, which showcase Wilson Jr.'s rich voice and guitar talents.
Mint
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Music Review: Dierks Bentleys Broken Branches offers safe, familiar, cold beer country
Nashville hitmaker Dierks Bentley has delivered 'Broken Branches,' his eleventh studio album that leans into some well-tread country rock territory, the kind that invariably involves broken hearts, trucks and a cold beer. Look, Bentley knows what he's doing. The album is 11-tracks of catchy, country rock radio filler and there's not much mystery to its musical roadmap. But therein lies his calling card: Dependable songs with few rough edges. Thematically, many of the tracks on the superstar's latest effort hint at internal struggles, but allow Bentley and the listener to escape them unscathed. 'Jesus Loves Me' is an admirable acoustic slow burn about finding religion but losing a woman. 'Thought maybe if I hit my knees / She'd think about hitting the brakes,' Bentley sings. There is slight salvation for the Phoenix-born singer: 'Yeah, Jesus loves me / But she don't.' On the title track, the jukebox stomp 'Broken Branches,' Bentley gets a nice assist from fellow country hitmakers John Anderson and Riley Green. Ostensibly it's an energetic drinking song about family lines, but lyrics like 'We shoulda gone to college / Coulda gained a little knowledge,' which pull from a popular childhood rhyme, feel like they're underperforming. What Bentley does extremely well is execute what his — and the modern genre's — biggest fans might expect. Tales of a tough exterior with a warm, if fragile, heart underneath. But his familiar is derivative. Palatable country is how you get on the radio and stay on it. Songs about beer and trucks are Spotify deliverables. If you like your country artists with a longer rap sheet, you'll need to look further than 'Broken Branches.' Even the few attempts at invention don't totally land, like the rowdy, rocking 'She Hates Me,' which includes a surprising interpolation of post-grunge band Puddle of Mudd's 2001 hit 'She (Expletive) Hates Me.' If there's a pleasant find here, it's Stephen Wilson Jr. duetting with Bentley on the opening track, 'Cold Beer Can.' It's the most memorable song on the album — with its plucky instrumentation and ascendant chorus, which showcase Wilson Jr.'s rich voice and guitar talents. It also does what Bentley aims for, but misses, throughout the record: It addresses life's touching moments over brews.
Winnipeg Free Press
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Music Review: Dierks Bentley's ‘Broken Branches' offers safe, familiar, cold beer country
Nashville hitmaker Dierks Bentley has delivered 'Broken Branches,' his eleventh studio album that leans into some well-tread country rock territory, the kind that invariably involves broken hearts, trucks and a cold beer. Look, Bentley knows what he's doing. The album is 11-tracks of catchy, country rock radio filler and there's not much mystery to its musical roadmap. But therein lies his calling card: Dependable songs with few rough edges. Thematically, many of the tracks on the superstar's latest effort hint at internal struggles, but allow Bentley and the listener to escape them unscathed. 'Jesus Loves Me' is an admirable acoustic slow burn about finding religion but losing a woman. 'Thought maybe if I hit my knees / She'd think about hitting the brakes,' Bentley sings. There is slight salvation for the Phoenix-born singer: 'Yeah, Jesus loves me / But she don't.' On the title track, the jukebox stomp 'Broken Branches,' Bentley gets a nice assist from fellow country hitmakers John Anderson and Riley Green. Ostensibly it's an energetic drinking song about family lines, but lyrics like 'We shoulda gone to college / Coulda gained a little knowledge,' which pull from a popular childhood rhyme, feel like they're underperforming. What Bentley does extremely well is execute what his — and the modern genre's — biggest fans might expect. Tales of a tough exterior with a warm, if fragile, heart underneath. But his familiar is derivative. Palatable country is how you get on the radio and stay on it. Songs about beer and trucks are Spotify deliverables. If you like your country artists with a longer rap sheet, you'll need to look further than 'Broken Branches.' Even the few attempts at invention don't totally land, like the rowdy, rocking 'She Hates Me,' which includes a surprising interpolation of post-grunge band Puddle of Mudd's 2001 hit 'She (Expletive) Hates Me.' If there's a pleasant find here, it's Stephen Wilson Jr. duetting with Bentley on the opening track, 'Cold Beer Can.' It's the most memorable song on the album — with its plucky instrumentation and ascendant chorus, which showcase Wilson Jr.'s rich voice and guitar talents. It also does what Bentley aims for, but misses, throughout the record: It addresses life's touching moments over brews.
