Martin Names A Guitar After Ambassador Dierks Bentley!

Martin Guitar introduced a very special Custom Signature Artist Edition guitar, the HD Dierks Bentley, designed in collaboration with multi-platinum selling, 10-time Grammy-nominated, CMA Award winning country singer/songwriter and Martin Guitar Ambassador, Dierks Bentley.


The HD Dierks Bentley features the classic Martin Dreadnought shape, a fitting choice as Bentley has been a Martin D-28 player for years.  The HD Dierks Bentley is crafted with solid East Indian rosewood back and sides, and a premium Adirondack spruce top; it will surely appeal to a wide range of pickers and strummers from country to bluegrass to rock.


Unique to Dierks’ model is the patriotic bold red, white, and blue Herringbone inlay that adorns the top perimeter, rosette, and back purfling. The vintage profile neck shape has comfortably narrow string spacing, Waverly tuners, and bone nut, saddle and bridge pins for exceptional playability and tone. The black Ebony fingerboard bears a mother of pearl Phoenix bird inlayed at the 12th fret, a symbol of great significance to Dierks that pays homage to his Phoenix, AZ upbringing.

Each HD Dierks Bentley Custom Signature Artist Edition will bear an internal label, personally signed by Dierks Bentley and numbered in sequence without total. The retail price for the HD Dierks Bentley will be $4999 and the MAP price will be $3999.

“I bought my D-28 years ago because so many of my heroes played Martins, and I would never have thought that I’d be working with Martin one day to design my own signature model,” said Bentley. “Their guitars have been played by the best musicians of all time and cross all music genres, so it’s still pretty unreal that they asked me to collaborate on a custom model…definitely something I can check off my bucket list!”

“Dierks Bentley is leading a new generation of great young American country artists making an impact with their craft. He is an outstanding ambassador for Martin and has bridged generations of country music fans,” said Fred Greene, vice president and general manager of guitars, C.F. Martin & Co. “It is a pleasure to work with such a gifted artist and to see this partnership reach a new level with the HD Dierks Bentley model."


The new custom HD Dierks Bentley was unveiled while Dierks was singing during the recent CMT Unplugged epidose.





C.F Martin & Co. (www.martinguitar.com) has been creating the finest instruments in the world for over 175 years. It continues to innovate, introducing techniques and features that have become industry standards including X-bracing, the 14-fret guitar and the "Dreadnought" size.  One of the world's leading acoustic instrument makers, Martin guitars are hand-made by skilled craftsmen and women, who use a combination of new design and techniques along with those introduced by the company founder.

Videos: Dierks Bentley on CMT Unplugged

Photo Credit: Brian Tipton

For those who missed Dierks Bentley's CMT Unplugged sessions, here are the five songs (Home, a poignant cover of Adele's Set Fire To The Rain, 5150, Am I The Only One, and Up On the Ridge) along with a 5 minute interview where DB talks about his early influences and his first gig.

You may remember DB Congress rep Emily's inside scoop from being on set the day they taped these sessions.

Notice in the "Home" video below, Martin Guitar Ambassador Bentley is playing the newly introduced "HD Dierks Bentley" Custom Signature Artist Edition Guitar!

The Boot had this to say of DB's Adele cover:

"Let's face it, everyone's covering Adele these days ... but perhaps no one more uniquely than Dierks Bentley. The country singer puts his own spin on the British phenom's "Set Fire to the Rain" in an upcoming episode of CMT's "Unplugged. Accompanied by guitars, fiddle, dobro and snare drum, Dierks proves that the lyrics to the chart-topping pop hit fit right in to the country and bluegrass genres, as well.'

The episode will air as a half-hour special Monday, June 25 at 9 pm/CT on CMT and CMT PURE. Fans of CMT’s Facebook page can see the episode in a dedicated tab.

Enjoy!

DBTV- Episode 66: Martin Guitar & CMT Unplugged

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 CMT Unplugged Performance to Debut May 29

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.