DB Congress Surprises Dierks Bentley with Birthday Boots for his 40th!

So how do a bunch of fans help celebrate Dierks Bentley turning 40? By buying him a gently-used pair of old boots and lots of duct tape, that’s how! 

As you may know, Dierks literally wears his shoes until they're falling apart, with holes in them, applying fresh duct tape before every show as necessary.  He also loves old vintage items, from clothing to cars. So what better present to get him than a pair of  old Vietnam combat boots, complete with several rolls of duct tape for future patching. (Tom and Jay, you don’t have to hide the extra duct tape—Dierks has his own supply now).

The idea to get Dierks new/(old) boots came about after Miles and Music for Kids 2015 and Last Call Ball, November 1.  We knew that Dierks was finally retiring his “Riser Tour” boots from his Instagram post: 

"the WWII boots ive been wearing since the #riser tour. previous owner named Lipman. duct taped heal. 4 shows to go." 

Then at Last Call Ball, DB Congress presented him with a gift commemorating his 10th year of MM4K and when we asked him to guess what it was, he said, "A new pair of boots?" (Nope, a specially engraved motorcycle derby).

This gave several DB Congress members a thought…replace the boots. 

North Carolina DB Congress member, Adrian Taylor, formed a Facebook group and the plan was put into action. Fans from all across the USA and Canada came together and contributed toward the cost of buying boots and duct tape for Dierks.  Everyone who donated wrote messages that Adrian added to his birthday card. 

Meanwhile, during the search for the perfect pair of boots, a local Nashville team was conspiring to arrange a time to surprise Dierks to present the special package. 

The plan was to give the gift to Dierks on his birthday (November 20).  However, since this was a big milestone birthday for our President--the big 4-0--Dierks took the weekend off to celebrate. Can't blame him there. 

So, ten days later, on November 30th, with the help of  Stephanie from The Green Room PR, we were able to surprise Dierks with his "slightly worn but vintage combat boots." 

In the video, Dierks is seen with his long time companion, Jake, opening the package. Adrian did the wrapping and wanted to make sure it was a challenge for him to get to the actual boots, "so I used the strongest industrial tape I could find. Sorry Dierks, but we had to make it hard for you!" 

"Jake, this is from DB Congress.  This is...so cool...package #1...thank you guys...Whoa! This is...a new pair of boots!  These are good boots!  WOW! I'm actually...I am actually totally shocked because I've been online looking for some new boots...laughs....wow! These are...I mean...I am shocked! These are some really nice boots!...WOW!  Let's give 'em a shot! Gosh...I mean I think they fit...I think they fit pretty good.  The old ones need to go away. I mean it's like a really, perfect fit.  Such a nice gift, y'all.  Thank you guys so much! These are great boots! I'm shocked! Thank you so much!"

You don't have to look any more Dierks!  These old boots still got a lot of ground they ain't covered yet! 

Thank you to all who helped make this a special 40th birthday for Dierks!  He really seemed to be surprised and according to Stephanie after the video ended be kept complementing the boots saying how nice they were--and they fit perfectly! 

Who's excited to see the boots on stage next year?

Dizzying 2012 for Dierks Bentley!

COUNTRY MUSIC STAR DIERKS BENTLEY CAPS OFF A DIZZYING 2012 WITH HIS CAREER 10th NO. ONE HIT, 11th GRAMMY NOMINATION AND ATOP CRITICS' END OF YEAR LISTS Nashville, TN – Dec. 17, 2012 – Award winning singer/songwriter Dierks Bentley has one of the most recognizable voices in country music, and this year, that signature sound that could only be Dierks was heard more than ever on country radio with three consecutive No. one hits off his sixth studio album HOME bringing his total as both a singer and a songwriter to 10. It was a dizzying 2012 for the artist, who also toured internationally, nabbed award nominations from the ACMs, CMAs and most recently the GRAMMYs, mined GOLD singles and found himself sitting at the top of critics’ year end lists. “Seems like every man in Nashville wants to be the Nashville Everyman. Here, Bentley actually pulls it off, singing from various vantages with smarts and charm. Bonus points for the patriotic title track, which still sounds sensible after an election season that left America covered in red-and-blue bruises.” - Washington Post, 2012’s Top 10 Albums “Bentley always utilizes banjo, fiddle, mandolin and especially dobro in his music, but with a modern beat and energy that, along with his distinctive voice, gives him a compelling sound of his own.” – Associated Press “Dierks Bentley’s music reaches all the way from Nashville to my kitchen in Dublin. When he sings “Home” I feel patriotic about America and I’m not even American. I think anyone who hears it understands that America is not just a geography, it’s not just a country, it’s an idea. I think country fans get that deeper than most.” - Bono Bentley’s tribute to Johnny Cash on the GRAMMY Nominations Concert capped off 2012’s string of television appearances this year that included TODAY, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock, CBS' Teachers Rock, and awards shows including the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards, 47th Annual ACM Awards, 46th Annual CMA Awards and the 2012 American Country Awards. Bentley toured the US and beyond to Canada and Australia during his 55-city Country & Cold Cans Tour. The road warrior sold out shows across the country including the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater, and along the way notched the one millionth mile on his faithful tour bus “Goldie.” He also shared the stage with iconic rock guitarists Mike McCready of Pearl Jam on Record Store Day and Chris Shiflett from Foo Fighters at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The Grand Ole Opry member lent his voice to the theme song of the final season of "Weeds" and set down his guitar to test his hosting skills at the 2012 ACM Honors where he charmed the industry-filled audience with jokes about his peers, thoughtful stories about his idols and obscure facts about Country Music history. Not done yet, Bentley also found time to record and release the fan inspired COUNTRY & COLD CANS EP, as well as design and unveil his signature HD Dierks Bentley Custom Signature Artist Edition Martin guitar. After some time off the road for the holidays, Bentley will ring in the New Year with pre-game concerts at both the Capitol One Bowl in Orlando and the BCS National Championship Game in Miami. From Florida, preparations will begin for the launch of the Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley: Locked & Reloaded Tour set to kick off Jan. 17 in Columbia, SC.  For a video look at the year in review and a full list of upcoming appearances and tour dates, visit www.dierks.com.     Source: THE GREENROOM

Dierks Bentley Peeps Nominated For CMA SRO Awards!

Two of Dierks Bentley's team members are nominated for the CMA Standing Room Only (SRO) Awards!


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!

See all categories and nominee here.

The 2012 SRO Awards will be presented later this year during Country Music Month in October.