When Dierks Bentley, Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley and Jon Nite sat down to write “Living,” I wonder if it ever crossed their minds that the song would come to life so authentically thanks to Bentley’s formerly shy five-year-old son Knox.
Because really, the father-son video does so much more than just capture what a day with a little boy is like.
When I sat down with Bentley before his Chicago show on Friday (Aug. 23), we talked about how sometimes you can find gratitude where you were least expecting it. It’s not always in the big picture. But it can always be found — if you pay attention — in the little things: coffee, puppies, ice cream cones, and the hand of a five-year-old. You get the idea.
“It’s really all about gratitude and perspective. But it’s not all about mountains and families and those big moments in life. If you really listen to the song, he walks outside and looks at a tree and goes inside and makes coffee,” Bentley told me. “So it’s about still doing those everyday little things, but changing your perspective on how you look at it.
“I have to do that, too. I know I do. I have to ask myself how I can reshift this entire paradigm — paradigm, is that even the word? Country singer trying to use a big word! — so that I look at ways to see the positive and not the negative.”
The result? “Same you, different outlook,” he said. “You just need to find your gratitude.”
I also had to ask Bentley where his shy little boy went? The youngest of Bentley’s three kids, Knox seems to have spent the first five years of his life shying away from the camera, and now he is a bona fide natural in front of it. “He’s not shy anymore. He’s a total pro,” his proud dad said. “He is a little star. Knox absolutely carried the crew, he carried the vibe, and he carried the whole shoot.”
As of Wednesday morning (Aug. 28), Bentley has been nominated for three CMA Awards: male vocalist of the year, and both single and music video of the year for his “Burning Man” duet with Brothers Osborne.
And this weekend, he’s headed to Colorado for his second annual Seven Peaks festival for three days of mountains, music, mullets and more. Read about all the seven perks of Seven Peaks here.
