It's no secret how Dierks Bentley's dad has positively influenced his life. That's clearly evident in songs like "My Last Name." As we approach Memorial Day, here's what Dierks had to say about his dad's service to our country:
“My dad was a second lieutenant in the army. My dad’s older then most dads. My dad had me when he was 51 … or helped have me when he was 51. It’s amazing … he served in WW2. He was in Japan, and he doesn’t tell me too many stories about it, but I know for him, he really enjoyed his time in the army. He grew up in a town of 1,200 people, [so] to join the army [was] a chance to go overseas and see some of the world. He really enjoyed the men in his company and lost some friends over there. He doesn’t talk too much about that aspect of it, but he has nothing but good memories of being able to serve and be part of that. What a feeling that must be that I will never know, to put on that uniform — American flag patch on your shoulder — and you’re out there literally fighting for the flag … fighting with your brothers next to you and for everyone back home. So it’s just something that we can never really honestly have a sense of how that feels, but certainly we can honor them.”
To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day,
the "National Moment of
Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m.
local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their
own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are
doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."
Not many artists reply to tweets, much less give away tickets to shows via Twitter. That's what separates Dierks Bentley from the pack. Read how he made one fan's day quite possibly one of the best days of her life.
About two hours away from the Dierks Bentley's May 5th show at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), Cassidy Norris was working in Pittsburgh and tweeting her friend about how sad she was that the
Dierks show was sold out.
"All of a sudden I saw my
phone's screen flash, 'mentioned by Dierks Bentley.' I am
pretty sure my heart skipped a beat or two. He tweeted me saying, 'there's always room for one more! leaving 2 tix under your name.'
I was at work, and I was shaking so badly from excitement my boss
let me leave early and I was on my way to the Dierks Bentley concert! My friend Jasmine Sable and I had a two hour journey, but we managed to make it in less than an
hour and a half. The entire time we were paranoid that this was a big
joke. But when my friend tweeted to me and Dierks thanking him for the tickets
and he said, 'enjoy,' we knew it wasn't!"
Jasmine and Cassidy
Cassidy told us she has loved
Dierks ever since she heard, "What Was I Thinking," when it first came out, and
started discovering all of his music. "Sideways" was her favorite song for the
longest time as soon as it came out, and had her searching for all of his music.
"When we got to IUP we had no clue
where to go, but found Will Call and our tickets. Our seats
were AMAZING - 5th row!
The concert was quite possibly the best concert I have ever
been to! I will never forget the day of May 5, 2012 and the most amazing
concert ever. My favorite
moment was probably getting the tweet back from him or the fact that he was
singing our way and I basically made eye contact! It was one of the best days
of my life!"
This was her first Dierks concert, but we're betting it won't be her last! She's interested in joining the fan club, too! DB Congress would be happy to have you, Cassidy!
The SRO Awards were originally created by the CMA Board of Directors in 1990 to honor outstanding professional achievement within the touring industry.
Final ballots have been sent to the more than 11,000 CMA members to vote on who they want to honor as the best of the best in over a dozen categories, including Dierks' publicist, Mary Hilliard Harrington (The Green Room PR), who is up for Publicist of the Year, and Old Goldie's driver of a million miles, Ken Lyons (Coach/Truck Driver of the Year).
In March, Mary was honored as one of five inaugural "Rising Women on the Row" by MusicRow, in honor of her substantial contributions to the Nashville music industry. She also represents Lady A, Jason Aldean, and Will Hoge to name a few.
Twitter Talk:
Some of the CMA’s SRO Awards 2012 Final Nominees are below--see our picks! Unfortunately only three in each category made the cut! We're thinking there are a few nominees missing, so we we added them!
Coach/Truck Driver of the Year
Ken Lyons (Dierks Bentley) *our pick!
Herschel Shelton (Eric Church)
John Stalder (Kenny Chesney)
Lighting Director of the Year
Ryan Hodge (Eric Church)
Aaron Swetland (Jason Aldean)
Mike Swinford (UpLate Design, Inc.)
Chris Reade (*our pick, but sadly not nominated!)
Publicist of the Year
Mary Hilliard Harrington (The Green Room PR) *our pick!
Marilyn Laverty (Shore Fire Media)
Ebie McFarland (Essential Broadcast Media, LLC)
Tour Manager of the Year
Todd Bunch (Eric Church)
David Farmer (Kenny Chesney)
David Milam (Toby Keith)
Tom Addison or Chris Alderman (pre 2/12) *our picks, but not nominated!
Touring Musician of the Year
Nick Hoffman (Kenny Chesney)
Myron Howell (Jake Owen)
Driver Williams (Eric Church)
Dan Hochhalter, Tim Sergent, Cassady Feasby, Brian Layson, Steve Misamore - all deserving, but none of them got nods! :(
Venue of the Year
Alabama Theater (North Myrtle Beach, S.C.)
Bridgestone Arena (Nashville, Tenn.)
Ryman Auditorium (Nashville, Tenn.) *our pick! Dierks' "Home" show in Feb. should seal the deal!
And where is the category for Stage Manager? Jay Ballinger should be nominated!
Follow Martin Guitar Ambassador, @DierksBentley, in DBTV Episode 66 as he takes part in an exclusive Martin Custom Guitars photo shoot then heads to CMT studios as the first country act to be featured in the CMT: Unplugged series.
Dierks Bentley's gravelly voice is distinctive even with full-blown electric. But in "CMT's Unplugged" special, his impassioned vocal shines even brighter, with acoustic instrumentation and his band of brothers complimenting him beautifully--Dan Hochhalter's fiddle, Steve Misamore on the snare, Tim Sergent on the banjo, Cassady Feasby on guitar, Brian Layson playing dobro, and of course Dierks on his trusty Martin.
“I love breaking my songs back down to their original acoustic foundation. When I write these songs by myself or with friends, we just use acoustic guitars… so, it’s fun to sometimes go back to just the simple groove and idea you had to begin with.”
During the acoustic set, Dierks sings a few of his own hits like, "Am I The Only One,” “Up On The Ridge,” “Home,” and current single already at #13 on Mediabase, “5-1-5-0.” But the standout song might be his poignant interpretation of Adele’s “Set Fire To The Rain.” See video below.
Of the Adele cover, CMT.com says, "His signature vocals capture the remorseful tone of the song... Some covers come across like a cheap gimmick, but he shows how a great song in the hands of a great artist becomes a classic."
A few DB Congress reps were on set the day they taped the show, like Emily Morgan from Tennessee.
Dierks & Emily, 2-2-12, The Ryman
The taping was Wednesday, April 25 at the CMT studios in downtown Nashville. The casting call for the audience was 7:45 a.m. and around 9 they were taken into the performance room. Dierks and the band came in about 10, and the show lasted until 12:30.
"There were only about 35 people total, sitting on stools around the stage," Emily tells us. "Several stand-out moments come to mind. One was when the stage manager was giving Dierks a Red Bull since it was 10 o'clock in the morning; we all needed a pick me up, so the first song was "Am I The Only One," to get the crowd going. The band was making up lines fitting for breakfast like, 'it was Wednesday in the a.m.,' (vs. Friday in the p.m.)
They probably did 6-8 songs all at least twice to get the right sound. Dan's fiddle playing was amazing! He is always great, but it may have been given that it was acoustic where you can focus on voices and instruments more directly, but especially on "Home." He put chills down me and it may have been because I was sitting closely to the right of Dan, so I could hear it better.
"I know its already shown (really wish CMT would have waited on that surprise for the actual airing), but the Adele cover was last and he did it three times. For me, he could have sang that all.day.long! Incredible! Then as a backup (in case the Adele cover didn't work) they sang "Pride." Cassady's vocals were great as usual.
After the taping, Dierks took off his jacket while talking to Janet and me, showing us the mark his jacket had made on his arm from being too tight."
The show will debut exclusively on CMT.com Tuesday, May 29 at 1 pm/CT.
The episode will also air as a half-hour special Saturday, June 2 at 8 pm/CT on Palladia; Monday, June 25 at 9 pm/CT on CMT and CMT PURE. Fans of CMT’s Facebook page will be able to see the episode in a dedicated tab starting Tuesday, May 29.
This is a different interview and very funny! Tige and Daniel from Q104.1 sit down with Dierks Bentley on their latest installment of "Tiny Couch Interviews." Watch to see how they get DB to reveal his home address and turn the tables and want Dierks to ask the questions. His first question to them? What's that smell?
He hit another "million" milestone Saturday when, over one million people "liked" Dierks Bentley--on his Facebook page that is. In February of this year, Dierks' bus, Old Goldie turned over a million miles on the odometer, too!
With lyrics from Lot of Leavin' Left To Do, "there's at least another million miles left under these old [Goldie] bus treads" and "gonna make a million memories for every hundred thousand miles" (Cab of My Truck), and the likes and miles, seems Dierks has a thing for a million of anything.
DB Congress is now recruiting people to "share the link" on his FB page to move closer to another million Likes and possibly win tickets and meet and greets to a DB show!
"5-1-5-0," the white-hot new single from Dierks Bentley, continued its quick ascent up the charts and crashed into the Top 20 this week! On Billboard, "5-1-5-0" came in at #19, with the 2nd-biggest audience pickup of the week at 2.6 million, and the #1 increase in spins at 562. On Mediabase, it rounded out the Top 20 at #20, with an astounding audience pickup of just under 4.4 million!
The song is starting to take off digitally, as well, as it debuts at #36 on Billboard's Country Digital Songs chart. Not only that, but Home has seen a small spike in its sales over the past two weeks as well, coming back into the Top 20 this week as sales hit 145,000. The spikes in sales can likely be partially attributed to folks buying the entire album based on the strength of all 3 singles, and based off the strength of "5-1-5-0" as well!
The song is having another great week, which should see it move into the mid-teens. I anticipate that it will start passing songs in front of it - picking them off, if you will - in the later part of this week into next week. Can we get it in the Top 10 by Last Call Ball on June 6th? It's very possible...
We'd like to wish all the moms of Dierks Bentley, Tim Sergent, Steve Misamore, Brian Layson, Cassady Feasby, and Dan Hochhalter a very happy Mother's Day. Without you we wouldn't have these talented bunch of guys! You're OUR heros!
Happy Mother's Day to all our DB Congress reps who are mothers, have mothers still here with them, and all the mothers in heaven.
Take a look at the DBTV episode this week where all the Dierks and Eli Young Band crew send a special wish out to their mothers.
In case you missed Eddie Stubbs' interview with Dierks Bentley last fall, here is the full candid video below from the famed "circle" of The Grand Ole Opry.
For all you hard core fans, there are a few nuggets of knowledge you may not have known about our DB Congress president. Dierks talks about where his first name came from, the fans, the history of the legends, and how he felt and lessons he learned just starting out in his career in Nashville.
Post a comment and tell us one thing you learned that you didn't know before this interview!
Dierks got to celebrate another Number One this week in Nashville! 'Home' topped the charts, making this his 9th number one party! Great job, Congress!
Dierks Bentley picked an appropriate location to celebrate his latest No. 1 single, "Home", Monday (April 30th): the Nashville diner he often calls his "second home", Arnold's Country Kitchen.
"I've been coming here [Arnold's] since about 1994 or '95," Dierks told the assembled crowd. During a time when he was going through a rough breakup, and losing weight in the process, Dierks revealed that he ate at Arnold's nearly every day for three months. "They saved me," Dierks said.
Dierks added that "Home" was "a special song," while conceding that he wasn't sure if it would hit the top. "It had so many layers," Dierks told reporters after the ceremony. "It was just a different type of song."
When he performs the song in concert, it takes on a communal feeling. "It's a song that seems to bring the whole crowd together," Dierks noted. "I feel really blessed to have this, and to have it go all the way to No. 1 is really cool." This marks the ninth No. 1 single for Dierks.
Dierks hosted the lunchtime event for media and industry members and celebrated with one of the song's co-writers, Brett Beavers. Co-writer Dan Wilson was unable to attend.
Dierks sent thanks to radio and fans, and shared his pride via Twitter:
"we had our #1 party for "home" yesterday at Arnold's (best meat and 3 in nashville!) want to say special thanks to Country Radio and Fans..."
"..the guys and i feel lucky to get to sing and play that song every night out there and feel the groundswell of pride it stirs up. thank you"
Thank you to all the Congress members who supported this single!! Keep calling, texting, and tweeting to support our next endeavor, 5-1-5-0! Can we make 10 number ones?? I think we can!
In its 6th week on the charts, "5-1-5-0" - the white-hot new single from Dierks Bentley - has moved up another 5 spots on Billboard to snag the #25 spot. It had a great week at Billboard: #2 most-added; #3 most-increased spins; #4 most-increased audience. Over on Mediabase, the song flew up 8 spots to land at #26, and it was also #5 most-added and #2 most-increased spins.
If it feels like this song is blazing up the charts, that's because ... well, it is. "5-1-5-0" is behaving similarly to "Sideways" which stands as Dierks' fastest-rising single to date. Unfortunately we can't compare apples to apples, because "5-1-5-0" charted early on Billboard from unsolicited airplay. But radio has definitely taken a shine to "5-1-5-0" and it's performing slightly better than the new singles from Toby Keith and The Band Perry.
This coming week's update won't be as spectacular as they've been since it hit the charts, but that's only because there's about a 4-million audience gap between where it is now and the songs in front of it. I expect that it will move to roughly #22 on Billboard, and then crack the top 20 in two weeks. 8 weeks to get into the teens? Not bad, Dierks. Not bad at all.
This is a fun song to chart-watch. :) Keep doing what you're doing, Congress! Call, text, tweet, and email your stations and tell them it's time to get a little bit loco!
It got a little crazy at the Big Nasty ATV Park in Bloomingdale near Savannah, GA on Sunday, April 29th! Dierks Bentley was filming his music video for his new single, "5-1-5-0."
After seeing Dierks perform just 45 minutes north the night before in Beaufort, SC, a few of us "5-1-5-0 girls" (DB Congress) decided to take a drive down to the site in case it was an "open set" for the video shoot. It was! In fact, there were probably about 100 people there who were regulars at the park, already mud boggin' it up in the hot sun!
Luckily, we were under the shade of a covering, right next to the food table. So we were able to say hi to the guys in the band as they trickled in one by one.
Talent was selected from the Halo Talent Group, a full service model and talent agency offering opportunities for singers, actors, dancers and models in the Savannah community. A few weeks ago, Halo announced the casting opportunity on their website, looking for males and females that LOOK between the ages of 20-28 years old. On Thursday, theyintroduced the five models chosen for the all-day video shoot.
"After more than 70 submissions and a Yahoo email crash, the selections are in. The producers of the Dierks Bentley “51-50″ music video have selected the following models. Congrats Halo and Halo Models! Jay, Marshall, Caroline, Sunny and Mandy."
Jay, is THE Jay Byars from the hit TV show, Survivor: One World. He tweeted on his way to the video site:
Of course, @DierksBentleywas tweeting throughout the day as well. Here are a few:
"video shoot today for #5-1-5-0 breaking new ground (mud?) on this one!"
"most fun I've ever had making a video. y'all are going to love it. don't even know where to start in describing it..... #5-1-5-0"
"it's just a picture...but it sums up the day today pretty well for our #5150 video shoot."
Today, Haloposted a video and some photos from the shoot.
"It was a hot day of mud slinging and mud boggin’(we just learned that term). Our three gorgeous girls and two handsome guys were front and center while filming with Dierks. It’s not every day you book a modeling gig that allows you to stand up and dance in the back of a Jeep. Dierks’personality made bearing the heat, well, bearable. He is as kind as he is good looking."
"A cool, fun party atmosphere is precisely what videographers were trying to capture," said John Burke, the Nashville, Tenn., producer in charge of the shoot Sunday.
The song, “5-1-5-0,” is all about “having a good time, having the cops called on the party,” he said.
The next part of the shoot — (took place today at Roebling Road Raceway) — will feature a staged police chase, Burke said. Burke said coastal Georgia was chosen for the shoot because Bentley is touring on the East Coast and [played] a show Saturday in Beaufort, S.C., followed by a couple days off, the Big Nasty’s mud pit seemed perfect.
“This is awesome,” Burke said. “This is fun, but (producing music videos is) always stressful.”
Here are some photos by Carrie Srebro (DB Congress Rep, NC) and Amy Shepheard (DBC, DE).
The jeeps and ATVs had cameras hooked up to them for their mud runs.
The 5150 music video is expected to premier in about a month. Keep checking back with us here on dbcongress.com!
