Cole Swindell celebrated the release of his highly anticipated sophomore album, You Should Be Here, on Thursday night (May 5) with a party in his honor. In many ways, though -- from Swindell's fellow songwriters to the album's special guest, Dierks Bentley, to Swindell's producer, Michael Carter, and the staff of his record label, Warner Bros. Nashville, who joined the artist at the event -- Swindell acknowledges that his new disc is "a group effort."

"This town and this industry mean a lot to me. I know I've had people reach out and help me, and I hope I get to a point one day where I can pass that along," the singer shared from stage. "I think that's something special about Nashville. It's why I'm proud to call it home."

For his eponymous freshman album, Swindell penned all but one of the songs; this time around, the Georgia native included five tunes from other songwriters.

"That used to be all I did all day, write songs," Swindell says. "People ask me about that, but I'm like, 'I don't ever want to be dumb enough to miss a great song because I didn't write it' ... They are five that I wish I had written."

Bentley -- whom Swindell calls "one of my favorite artists" -- appears on a song that Swindell did write, along with Jaron Boyer and Matt Bronleewe, "Flatliner."

"Originally, we wrote the song for Dierks, and I don't guess he ever heard it," Swindell explains. "He probably asked, 'Who the hell wrote that song?' at the time."

"That was when Cole and I were just writing in the back of the bus, a lot of 'good' songs," Carter adds. "We were out there watching Dierks headline and getting to hang out with him, and then all of a sudden, it's one of those full-circle deals, where one day, we're sitting in the studio ... and here comes Dierks bopping in, singing on the album."

For Carter, who also plays in Luke Bryan's band, every moment of recording You Should Be Here was significant.

"Being able to work with your best friend, and somebody you believe in, [is] so much fun," Carter says. "Every song you hear is stuff that everybody agrees on, they love 100 percent. Especially Cole ... I hope other people that get to be involved in album projects have half the fun that we have."

Although You Should Be Here is brand-new, it appears as though it will continue Swindell's string of success: He recently earned his fifth consecutive No. 1 song with the record's title track.

"I'm doing my dream job right now. I get to do what I love every night," Swindell notes. "When somebody tells me, 'You look like you were having fun up there,' I'm like, 'No s--t.' No matter how the day's going, when I get on the stage, it makes it all alright."

You Should Be Here is available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes.

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