Love always had my number. I could never patch a breakup together with whiskey and a one-night stand. I took them real hard.

The people I always loved listening to had a little bit of dirt under their fingernails because they had done some living and had these stories to talk about.

Growing up in Arizona, I love fireworks, shooting off bottle rockets and M80s.

It's Frederick Dierks Bentley, but my whole family goes by their middle name - my sister, my brother. So from day one, I've always been called Dierks.

That's what I love about Nashville and the music community - seeing kids around acoustic music and bluegrass picking parties is the best.

I'm part of the party, getting the crowd fired up, singing songs, pouring drinks, whatever it takes to get them to have a good time. When I walk into the meet-and-greet, someone's always going to have a story, a sad story or a happy story.