"Trying to Stop Your Leaving" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Dierks Bentley Frederick Dierks Bentley (; born November 20, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Bentley moved to Nashville in the late 90s to pursue a career in music, leading up to his releasing the self-funded and independent album Do ...

. It was released in January 2008 as the fourth and final single from his 2006 album '' Long Trip Alone''. It peaked at number 5 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart and at number 73 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The song was written by Bentley,

Brett Beavers Brett Beavers (born in Waco, Texas) is an American country music songwriter and producer and a co-author of a book, ''Something Worth Leaving Behind''. Education and early career Beavers attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he earne ...

and

Jim Beavers Jim Beavers is an American country music songwriter. He is also the brother of songwriter Brett Beavers. Early life and education Jim Beavers grew up in Garland and Jacksonville, Texas. His educational background includes a BBA from Baylor U ...

Content

The narrator is a man who is describing his difficulty in trying to keep his lover from leaving him. He uses various metaphors to illustrate his point. For example, in one verse, he compares the situation to throwing a

pebble A pebble is a clastic rocks, clast of rock (geology), rock with a grain size, particle size of based on the Particle size (grain size), Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than Granule (geology), gra ...

into the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

, stating that he could "throw in a million more and not slow it down".

Critical reception

Kevin John Coyne of ''Country Universe'' gave the song an A− grade, saying that he liked the "rise and fall in intensity, ndthe delicate intertwining of the electric guitar and the steel." In 2017, ''

'' contributor

Chuck Dauphin Charles Frederick Dauphin III (February 17, 1974 – September 18, 2019) was an American sports and country music journalist. He was a radio broadcaster for WDKN in Dickson, Tennessee for 18 years, a radio show host and sports director at WNKX i ...

put "Trying to Stop Your Leaving" at number two on his top 10 list of Bentley's best songs.

Music video

The music video was directed by

Trey Fanjoy Trey Fanjoy is an American music video director. Fanjoy has directed over 150 major label music videos. Her videos have appeared on CMT, VH1, GAC, The Nashville Network, CMT Canada, and MTV. She is the first woman to win the Country Music Ass ...

, and features Bentley standing by a river, and him and his band playing in the middle of a railroad track in a tunnel. It also features Bentley and his (only in the video) wife fighting and her packing her bags. It also shows them having sexual activity.

Chart performance

"Trying to Stop Your Leaving" debuted at number 57 on the U.S. ''

chart for the week of January 26, 2008.

Year-end charts

References

{{Dierks Bentley 2008 singles 2006 songs Country ballads 2000s ballads Dierks Bentley songs Music videos directed by Trey Fanjoy Songs written by Dierks Bentley Songs written by Brett Beavers Songs written by Jim Beavers Capitol Records Nashville singles Song recordings produced by Brett Beavers