Dierks Bentley Celebrates 19th No. 1 Single With “Living”

Pictured (L-R): Ross Copperman (BMI/Rezonant Music Publishing), Ashley Gorley (ASCAP/Combustion Music/Round Hill), Dierks Bentley, Knox Bentley, Jon Nite (ASCAP/Endurance Music Group), Producer Arturo Buenahora. Photo: Ed Rode

Multi-Platinum singer/songwriter Dierks Bentley celebrated his 19th No. 1 hit “Living” at Nashville’s Superica restaurant on Thursday (Dec. 5). The song marks the third consecutive chart-topper off his album The Mountain, following two back-to-back consecutive No. 1 hits, “Woman, Amen” and “Burning Man.”

Hosted by ASCAP’s Beth Brinker and BMI’s Josh Tomlinson, industry members celebrated Bentley alongside co-writers Ashley Gorley (ASCAP) and Jon Nite (ASCAP) as well as BMI writer Ross Copperman, and producer Aurturo Buenahora.

Gorley recently celebrated his 7^th ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year honor; “Living” is Gorley’s 43^rd No. 1 hit (he now has 45 No. 1 songs total). “Living” marks Nite’s 12th No. 1 single.

Also celebrating were Combustion Music’s Chris Farren, Endurance Music Group’s Michael Martin, Round Hill Music’s Mark Brown, Warner Chappell Music’s Ryan Beuschel, and UMG Nashville’s Mike Dungan.

“These are three of my best friends in the world and to be able to do music with them is the best thing,” Copperman said.

“I’m thankful to Dierks for being an artist who cares about the album, about the project. He had a vision for this and to take us to Telluride to work on this album. It was just an amazing thing to do that. As a writer, that’s what motivates us is working with guys that have something to say and I couldn’t be happier. Great sounding record and I’m very proud to be part of this song,” said Gorley.

“This is unbelievable for us, to write a song that we love and live everyday, it’s crazy for you to make it a hit. I had so much fun doing this with you guys, it was the trip of a lifetime,” Nite added.

“This is it. This is the end of The Mountain. It was a journey that started during a trip to Colorado with incredible songwriters where we unplugged for days and just had so much fun,” Bentley said. “To have three songs off this album go No. 1 that are so meaningful to me is something special. If I were to do a writer’s night tomorrow I would play all three of those songs…these songs guided me to where my life is now.”