These are the FIRST 5 new releases of the week that I think you should hear. Rather than wasting your limited weekend time listening to every new song, trying to weed out the bad ones like its your job…I did. Cuz it is my job.

Of all the new music, these are the 5 tracks to hit first. Music is that fundamental building block that lets us all connect through similar experiences. I open up about the memories or stories that a song wholes for me. If you’ve got similar stories and want to share, definitely do! I’m intrigued by everything, and like knowing more about people. Especially how they respond to music. These aren’t the only new songs I love, just the ones I know you should hear right out of the gate.

All the stuff I’m listening to is on my official playlist TY BENTLI’S DAILY SOUNDTRACK

First things first..
These are the FIRST 5 new releases you should hear:

“I Was On A Boat That Day” - Old Dominion

The problem with trying to remember a break up that you didn’t attend…is that you’re not actually searching your memory for the breakup (the fight, the packing, the crying). You’re actually searching through the archives for a day you were doing something else and then you were suddenly single.

Fortunately, I found one in the ol’ steel trap! (If this story is about you, I’m sorry - but we both knew we had a better match for love out in the world and I Hope You’re Happy Now).

Although radio jobs usually pay jack at the early stages of a career, there are amazing perks! Like the free trips to broadcast from Disneyland (inviting listeners to book their Disney vacation today) or driving a free car from a local dealership (I was once given a Plymouth Prowler & immediately felt obligated to dress better $$, tip better $$ and ultimately realed that as much $$ as I spent trying to live up to the car: I may as well have just paid for the lease). Another time I got flown to Miami for a day so I could try the secret menu that Burger King was cooking up - first class from LA, and a killer view out over the ocean in my hotel room; totally worth cheating on the diet that had helped me lose 28 pounds.
Important sidenote: all these perks also come with insane job insecurity, randomly failing to afford my monthly electric bill, and once a listener who carved my name into her leg and then hacked all my email accounts…

Back to that “not present for the breakup” story, though: I had been assigned a trip to Jamaica to broadcast live from a Sandals Resort. At the time, I had moved from Chicago and was living in LA while dating a girl in Tennessee. The long distance thing wasn’t too bad and the boyfriend/girlfriend title had been a very slow build. I wasn’t sure I knew her very well, but at that point we had been in each others lives for several months and I was certainly still invested in the relationship. I invited her to come with me to Jamaica, but she couldn’t make the trip work around other obligations, so I decided to invite one of my closest friends for the last several years, as the trip would include her 30th birthday!

SIDENOTE - since we’re doing sidenotes: Andrea and I had also dated for like 2 years (off and on toward the end) and had broken up a while ago, but continued our friendship, which had been in place years before we dated, too. But we were 1,000% just friends, and planning to sleep in separate rooms, etc.

Understandably, my girlfriend at the time did not love that idea. She pretty much laid out an ultimatum, and I talked to her about things and reassured her that it was nothing like what she was imagining. I also told her that I am not someone who lets trust-issues get in the way of things. I trust my partners explicitly (and if they blow it, that’s on them). Its not up to me to keep an eye out for reasons NOT to trust them. I felt like my girlfriend should have the same faith in me.

You see where this is headed (wait, maybe you don’t!). I made the trip, Andrea came along…girlfriend did not like it and I vaguely remember talking about it not feeling ‘right’ and then we broke up…while I was sitting next to my private pool, after a night of sleeping on the pull-out couch in the living room of the fancy lil bungalow. If you were thinking there was anything nefarious going on, there was not. And I also remember Andrea being on the phone a lot during that trip with a guy we knew, who is now her husband! But…I wasn’t present for the breakup, and I was damn close to being on a boat that day - actually I was on a boat that day, too! I got SCUBA certified on that trip and went diving in the ocean. Not the worst breakup..

As for Old Dominion - this song is such a blast! If it sparked memories for you like it sparked for me, its doing its job as music (connecting us all) and then taking it a step further with the absolute nonchalance of what should be a very sad day. O.D. is creating an option for any of us in a dark moment - we could be on a boat. We could let the drama slide away and enjoy the best parts of life.

I love this song so much that I am sitting her thinking “its never going to go away.” From a band who has already created SO MANY songs that will forever remain on my playlists, this one in particular might be their “Margaritaville” or “Friends in Low Places” - this may need a notorious 3rd verse that only gets played live…which reminds me, drummer Whit has a secret verse (he may tell us about it when Old Dominion is on my show next week! LISTEN HERE)

LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “I Was On A Boat That Day”

“Back Then, Right Now” - Tenille Arts

Everyone had a special food-related spot with their grandparents right? For me, the first 8 years of my life were spent in Sioux City, IA. Each of my grandparents had an eatery all their own (Green Gables, Wendy’s, Casey’s), but the one place they had in common was Dairy Queen.

I feel like that sounds so lame as a “special spot” cuz there are DQ’s off the side of every interstate exit, in gas stations, etc.. I get it! The thing is: when you’re a kid, you don’t know all of that. All you know is where the memories were created. And in a small town, the DQ wasn’t so generic… the one that we went to had walk-up windows. I would wait in line to order my Blizzard with Grandpa Thede (he always got Butterfinger), or Grandma O (she loved Oreo) or even G.G. - my great-grandma - (she ordered Reese’s). While we were in that line, we held hands and talked.

In retro, I wonder if the happiness of that memory is from the emotional excitement of getting ice cream. I hope its because, even as a kid, I realized that I had the full attention and love of these heroes in my life. That’s exactly who they are. They each had more significance in shaping my life than your average grandparent might have. *same is true of Grandpa Jim, and Grandma Dickie who usually sent their better halves with me on the DQ trips, as noted.

Its so weird to type this and realize that none of those people are here on earth with me anymore. They seriously still affect my decisions and perspectives on a daily basis, so you can imagine how much I hold on to them. Still, every Friday, I use my ‘cheat day’ to drive over to Dairy Queen and pick up a Blizzard (today I’m getting a “cookie jar” blizzard, even though the animal cracker one looks really good!). Sometimes I bring my whole family, or one of the kids, but I often go it alone just to give that 5-year-old Ty a few minutes with his grandparents.

Tenille Arts is on literal fire, right now! Everything she touches is gold, and she’s such a good person that its bonus awesome for country music. This song is timeless and relevant all in the same moment. After more than a year of missing the routines and good ol’ days all at the same time, this takes us back for all the great details that make up the easier times and free world of yesterday. The truth of the pandemic is that there were a few weeks when my Dairy Queen was closed - a couple times I drove 40 miles to a shop that stayed open outside of Nashville), and DQ is mentioned by Tenille on this nostalgic journey.

LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Call it Country”

“Therapy” - Ross Copperman

It’s Mental Health Awareness Month. Last week, Michael Ray and I talked about the ways that suicide has affected our lives. He was on the show talking about his new song “Picture” and I felt like he should be acknowledged for how open he had been about a family member taking their own life, not long ago. I didn’t air the entire conversation, because I was hoping that it would make for a more powerful focus on the message we were both putting out there: Learn what to watch for, and if you are concerned for a person in your life, tell someone.

Several suicides of friends in my high school showed me the true scope of damage that can be done when someone is made to feel like they don’t belong, aren't understood, and their life doesn’t hold enough worth. There’s a lot more that factors in, and more to the way that someone is feeling when they get that low - they need more than a hug or a high five. But I learned so much through those experiences that it led to helping implement the A.L.I. Program in schools around Sioux Falls. I went to those schools to heighten awareness of the messaging: “Ask, Listen, and Inform.” If you feel something is off, you should trust your instincts. And even when someone tells you there isn’t something wrong…trust your instincts. Tell others if you believe you should. I have had a couple of moments in my life where I could have taken the path of assuming the person who was telling me they were fine or would be fine was right; that path was easier than a confrontation or trying to explain my concerns to someone who could help. In specific cases, I know that the terrible, difficult conversation of informing someone else of the warning signs I was seeing actually resulted in saving someone’s life.

Watch for those ‘cry for help’ moments. Watch for total attitude or action shifts in the people you know well. Then ask how they are doing…listen to what they say…and decide if you need to prompt action.

Sorry. I wish that whole thing could’ve been some ridiculous story I told my therapist or a dumb dad joke, but I believe so much in the importance of that conversation and couldn’t miss a chance during Mental Health Awareness Month to share a message that may reach the right ears.

What Ross Copperman has created here is an extraordinarily uplifting song in the face of adverse times. The pandemic has created so many hard days, and this smooth tune is a cure in itself. Bringing the genuine joy that Ross has found (in his wife and family and the world as the sun rises). I’ve talked to him about it and he really seems to have created his brand new EP (Somewhere There’s a Light On) to honor those great parts of his universe. This song is co-written with Ed Sheeran and I knew it before I even confirmed it. There is a pulse to the song that is a healthy heartbeat - it is the literal feeling that somewhere in a dark world there’s a light on.

If you want to set expectations for the re-emerging artist (also one of Nashville’s biggest writer/producers), Ross Copperman is what you’d get if Andy Grammar and Walker Hayes had a baby…which, as a doctor, I believe is medically impossible. But that’d be a happy, talented-ass baby!

LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Therapy”

“Buy Dirt” - Jordan Davis f. Luke Bryan

I remember a conversation I had with my mom on the porch swing at their house in Madison, SD.

I was in my early 20s, and saw a lot of great things ahead in my career. And I was very focused on what I believed could lead to a six-figure job within a few years, if I was really focused. My parents had supported my (ridiculous?) decision to drop school - which I was very good at - before graduating college and go into…radio. I wanted Mom to know that it had been the right decision. I didn’t want her to think she needed to worry about me. I wanted my parents to be proud of what I was going to accomplish and I wanted her to know my goal was to make $100,000 a year. I was sure I’d get there!

And I remember how little she seemed to care if that ever happened. Instead, Mom seemed worried. She was afraid maybe I was missing the point. Parents don’t want their kids to be ‘financially stable’…they want their kids to be HAPPY. Sometimes having financial stability comes into play on day-to-day happiness in life, but that wasn’t what she wanted me to be focused on. In her ever-calm, steadfast and loving way, Mom kept impressing on me how much a family can mean. In hindsight I tend to believe she was actually really afraid that I was going to turn into some ass-hat egomaniac or 14-hour workhorse who never stopped to realize something was missing in his life.

I’m the oldest sibling, so none of us had seen the phases and evolution of her kids. I eventually found Corri and am (overly?) infatuated with the family that I now have. I feel lucky every minute of every day. I express it every other minute. I’m a nerd for them. But I wonder if it was an inevitable part of growing up - first career then family - or if it was because of that night. My mom had always pressed a “family first” focus and I was hyper-aware of that. I also knew I would be a very involved family man if I ever had a family…but who knows which decision will be the one that sends a person down one path or the other. I kinda think that night and that conversation may have driven the point home for good.

Whether Jordan Davis, his bro, or one of the other cowriters had an actual conversation with an 80-year-old guy is a mystery to me. I haven’t asked yet. But if this is straight out of a writers room, they’ve definitely had some very positive role models and very poignant conversations in their life. The advice here is the same as my mom’s above. You find a place to call home. You surround it with things that make you happy. You roll with the rest of the curveballs…but it all starts with the first decision: where is home?

The pacing here is perfect. The ‘tap-tap tap’ strum is upbeat. Jordan’s voice isn’t over-selling it’s just telling a simple lesson that will change your life. And I don’t know when Luke Bryan became Dolly Parton, but I trust this guy. His voice suddenly seems wise (maybe it started around “Most People Are Good” or maybe its been brewing since “Rain Is a Good Thing”). He feels like an old guy in skinny jeans, rocking on the porch next to a black lab, sipping tea. Maybe he’s just spent more time fishing during quarantine…it seems like that would give a person time to grow wise.

LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Buy Dirt”

“The River Knows How” - Candi Carpenter f. Brandi Carlile

I hate getting up early. I suck at it…so I force myself to do it. For many years, I set an alarm for 3:15am to head to work because The Ty Bentli Show started running to syndication at 4am central.

Once I quit the show (before announcing I was moving to Apple), we hit a pandemic and life was super weird for a while, so Corri and I traded off getting up with the kids - it was nice. When the boys headed back to school, we had just added Teddi to our family and Corri was getting up in the middle of the night to breastfeed. So I made sure I was getting the boys off to school in the morning, then started my day. Now, Teddi sleeps all night, but I still hold the school routine responsibilities. It gets me charged up a little earlier than I naturally would be (its about an hour in the car between driving one direction for Rad then all the way the opposite direction for Bash), so I get things accomplished early…important, because the second the boys are home, its game over for concentration.

All of that to get to the point that the boys are home. That paragraph took me 12 minutes to write. Bash is currently climbing over the back of my office chair. The earlier song posts were written while sitting outside of Rad’s guitar lesson, and then with Teddi in my arms (adorable, not distracting, but when she’s so small, I have to hold her as I write…which feels like typing with T-rex arms). So I’m wrapping this up!

This song is just a sample of what you’ll get off the new Brandi Carlile-produced When the Asteroid Comes - EP from Candi Carpenter. Candi is extremely interesting - Brandi called her “intoxicatingly awkward” haha. I just think she’s unique in this space, and her history with stars like Brandi and Dolly Parton should be encouraging to anyone who is about to listen to her for the first time.

The lyrics here are incredibly cool. This is the most beautiful song that will ever tear your heart right out. It starts simply, and could go anywhere. The lyrics hit like a Dolly line (clearly Candi is a student of country music). The arrangement perfectly reflects the emotion of the lyric. Not in a cheesy “waves” kinda way - in a brilliant-Brandi kinda way. Music is meant to make you feel emotion, but is it possible that the song is making the music feel that emotion?

LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “The River Knows How”

Its Not Over

There is more 🔥 new music to share. New releases alongside my favorite tunes to play on The Ty Bentli Show. A playlist built to showcase every avenue and you’ll love it start to finish:

TY BENTLI’S DAILY SOUNDTRACK is on my homepage on Apple Music.

FIRST 5 - Start With These New Releases (May 21st)