Over the course of his 16-year career, Dierks Bentley has accumulated enough hardware to fill more than a few trophy cases, including 18 No. 1 singles, eight No. 1 albums, two platinum albums, four platinum singles, five gold albums, nine gold singles, three CMA Awards, five ACM Awards and more.
The 43-year-old Arizona native is showing no signs of slowing down, either. Dierks’ current single, “Living,” cracked the Top 20 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart this week as it continues its ascent. Dierks has also accrued a cache of meaningful gifts from fans—and his three kids are always giving daddy presents that “bring him joy.”
As the awards, accolades and gifts continue to funnel in, Dierks told Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown that he had to figure out a way to tidy up his house that was “bursting at the seams.”
“You know who I’ve become a big fan of—I hate to even admit this because a lot of guys out there are probably gonna give me some grief—but there’s this Japanese [organizing consultant and author] Marie Kondo,” says Dierks. “She’s all about [getting rid] of clutter and tidying up. I’ve gathered so much stuff. Every night, I get slipped . . . like this bracelet I’m wearing right now in honor of the Granite Mountain Hot Shots. I get coins from military guys. I get paintings that a nine-year-old painted of my dog that passed away. I gather so much stuff, you know? And, it all comes back into my house. It’s like a ship that is just bursting at the seams.”
One of Marie Kondo’s popular tenets is to throw out or donate items that don’t “spark joy.” It’s a tenet that Dierks has adopted.
“So you’ve gotta go through things, and just figure out what’s bringing you joy, what’s sparking joy, and what’s not,” says Dierks. “For me, you know, seeing a gold record with my name on it, it doesn’t spark the same joy as it did for me as when I first got one, and I’d rather see, honestly, like a drawing that my five-year-old made. That has more value to me right now. It has nothing to do with not being grateful. It’s just recognizing what brings you joy, and it’s just the little interactions with people. This bracelet that someone gave me, a fan gave me, that means more to me than a plaque would mean to me.”
