ABC

A Thanksgiving meal is not a Thanksgiving meal without turkey. Just ask Dierks Bentley.

“You got to have a big turkey. Thanksgiving is not possible without a turkey,” says Dierks.

“We cook it traditionally, but a couple of Thanksgivings ago, we were here in Nashville, we did the whole fry-the-turkey-up, that was just great,” he recounts. “It just tasted so good; all those juices get locked in there, and I love that, too.”

In fact, Dierks is such a turkey lover that he’ll eat it however it’s prepared — roasted, grilled or deep-fried.

“You really can’t, to me, cook a turkey wrong. I’m going to eat it any way, and I have over the years,” the singer shares. “Trust me, I’ve played a lot of county and state fairs, where I’ve seen gigantic turkey legs, you know? I’ve had the flat meat. I’ve done turkey every way you could do it.”

“I’m pretty good any way you want to cook it up,” Dierks says, “but you’ve got to have a turkey for Thanksgiving.”

Dierks recently performed his bluegrass rendition of Tom Petty‘s “American Girl” at the CMA Awards. If you missed the performance, you can watch it now on YouTube.