Feel That Fire by Dierks Bentley

Dierks Bentley’s songs have always found him constantly on the move: He was a Modern Day Drifter on a Long Trip Alone with a “Lot of Leavin’ Left to Do.” But while Feel That Fire kicks off with one of Dierks’ trademark gotta-keep-movin’ songs, the roaring “Life on the Run,” it soon firmly plants itself in one place for a focused examination of love, lust and loss. Dierks’ previous albums took place on the open road, but the drama here unfolds behind closed doors.

Feel That Fire addresses the power of love both to destroy (“Little Heartwrecker,” “I Can’t Forget Her”) and to heal (“You Hold Me Together,” “Beautiful World”) in equal measure, just as it celebrates both the sensual side of life (“I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes”) and the spiritual (“Better Believer,” “Pray”). If the lyrics do occasionally lean on handy clichés, the stall-kicking power in the production by Dierks and Brett Beavers always slams home the emotional wallop anyway.