Up on the Ridge
Up on the Ridge is the fifth studio album by American country music artist Dierks Bentley. It was released on June 8, 2010 by Capitol Records Nashville. The album produced two singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart with the title track and "Draw Me a Map".
Up on the Ridge
Content[edit]
Unlike Bentley's previous albums, this album is a bluegrass-influenced album, mixed with country and Americana.[1] It features many collaborations, including The Del McCoury Band, Alison Krauss, Chris Thile, and Miranda Lambert. Via his website, Bentley explained the reason behind Up on the Ridge, saying: “This album won’t come as a surprise to my hard core fans, they've asked me: ‘when are you going to make a bluegrass record?’ And I was just waiting for the right time. I didn't want this to be ‘Dierks Bentley and friends’ or a ‘Dierks does bluegrass’ kind of album. I wanted each song to have something special about it, and in the end I think each song really does have its own thing going on.”[2]
In an interview with Billboard Magazine, Capitol Records Nashville president and CEO Mike Dungan commented on Up on the Ridge saying that "The album was supposed to be a side project, but it's grown into something much more....He had a real sense of direction and made a vehicle for people to hopefully discover this music".[3]
Singles[edit]
The title track is the first single from this album and was sent to radio stations on April 12,[2] and debuted at #59 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of May 1, 2010. The song later peaked at #21 in late July 2010, making it the first single of Bentley's career to miss the Top 20 and the second to miss the Top 10, after My Last Name (from his self titled debut album) at No.17 in 2003. The second single from the album, "Draw Me a Map," was released to country radio on August 23, 2010. It was even less successful than the title track, with a peak of #33, becoming his third-lowest charting single to date, after "What the Hell Did I Say" from his album Black, which peaked at #35 on Hot Country Songs and #46 on the Country Airplay chart.
Promotion[edit]
To promote his new album, Bentley started his Up on the Ridge Tour. The 24 show tour began in Portland, Oregon on April 21, 2010, and it continued through May 22, 2010, where it ended in Nashville, Tennessee.[4]
Bentley also premiered the title song, and first single, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 27, 2010.[5]
Reception[edit]
Commercial[edit]
The album debuted at number nine on the U.S. Billboard 200, number two on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums chart, and at number one on the U.S. Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart, selling nearly 39,000 copies in its first week of release.[6] As of February 12, 2012, the album sold 244,000 copies in the US.[7]