Growing up in a nonmusical family in Phoenix, AZ, country singer
Dierks Bentley got his country music education on his own, listening
to recordings. A love of the music inspired him to move to Nashville at
the age of 19, but he quickly grew discouraged by the lack of public and
professional interest coming his way. It all changed when he walked into
the Station Inn, a bar where the bluegrass faithful hang out. An
all-night jam session recharged his batteries and he restarted pursuing
gigs. He landed a job at the TNN television network doing research on
classic country music and by night he worked on his demos. Capitol
Records heard the artist, signed him, and released his self-titled
debut, Dierks Bentley, in 2003, which yielded the impossibly
catchy single "What Was I Thinkin'". Bringing his love of Merle Haggard
and Waylon Jennings more to the forefront, Modern Day Drifter
followed two years later and became a Top Ten hit. In 2006 he returned
with Long Trip Alone, a more polished effort that was commercial
but not crass.
Greatest Hits: Every Mile a Memory arrived in 2008, a bit
early in his career for that, perhaps, but it did contain his key
charting singles and added in fan-selected live tracks as a bonus,
making it a nice summation of Bentley's work to date. A new album,
Feel That Fire, was released in early 2009, followed by Up on the
Ridge, a bluegrass flavored collection, in 2010. Bentley's 2011 tour
featured Josh Thompson as the opening act.
