Youre back this month with a new album,Black.
How are you feeling?
Im a mess right now.
Credit: John Shearer/Getty Images
[Laughs] Right now everything is a show.
I look at a menu and I call it a set list!
The record is sort of conceptual in that youre exploring your decade-long marriage.
What made you want todo that?
What inspired a song like Black?
Its certainly the sexiest color, and I feel like this record has a lot of sexiness.
That word is so weird for me to say.
Its not, like, glossy sexy.
Its got this attitude.
Theres a realness and sexiness.
Thats the last time Im using that word.
Were you nervous to play the song for her?
Oh, yeah, definitely.
[But] she really likes it a lot.
Imagine if she hadnt.
There would be no way to fix it.
I cant go back and rewrite something.
[But] this one works.
I went and checked Elle out on Twitter, and she was really funny.
She also plays banjo, and I love banjo.
I contacted her, and she seemed cool.
Shes self-deprecating, and she cracks me up.
Whats in store for your tour this summer?
Im lucky I have[country singer] Camon the road with me.
We went to Europe to try some things over there, and we feel 90 percent good about it.
Were figuring out how to put all these components together, with audio guys and video guys.
We set up in an old steel mill [to rehearse].
Were putting in as much production time as Taylor Swift!
After eight albums, is making music still fun for you?
I would quit, I really would.
And with the live show, I enjoy being on a stage now more than I ever have.
Catch Bentley performing onCiti Concert Series on TODAYon Friday.
