Dierks Bentley Included in the 2013 Country Music Hall of Fame Calendar

Finally!  I've been waiting 8 years for this! Dierks Bentley is now included in my favorite calendar, the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum annual calendar!  This is a momentous ocassion, congress!  It's the first year ever Dierks has made the cut! With only 12 months of calendar pages and dozens of artists, this recognition is a testament to Dierks' success over the last few years!

Want to know what happened in country music history on your birthday? The 2013 Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum calendar is packed with historical facts for every day of the year! This year’s spectacular lineup of popular stars includes Dierks, Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Reba McEntire, Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum, Zac Brown Band, Brad Paisley and Toby Keith.

You can choose your cover as the “Museum” edition, adorned with a lovely photograph of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, or the Artists cover.

 These will sell out fast, so get yours now!

~Ronna

DB Congress Chair (FL)

Dierks to Perform When "Opry Live" Returns To TV On GAC With 6-Star-Packed Shows

"Opry Live" Returns To Television On GAC With Six Star-Packed Shows This Fall

Nashville, TN — September 13, 2011
Country music’s most famous show is returning to television. The Grand Ole Opry® will return to GAC: Great American Country for six star-packed “Opry Live” episodes to begin airing Tues., Oct. 4. The first show scheduled to air, an 80thbirthday salute to country legend George Jones, will be filmed tonight and will feature performances by Alan Jackson, Jamey Johnson, The Oak Ridge Boys, Lee Ann Womack, and more.

Shows airing on Saturdays, Sundays, and Tuesdays in subsequent weeks will feature a who’s who of new stars, superstars, and legends of country music, including: Trace Adkins, Lauren Alaina, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Sara Evans, Martina McBride, Ronnie Dunn, Scotty McCreery, Kellie Pickler, Rascal Flatts, LeAnn Rimes, Randy Travis, Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood and more. Airdates will be announced at opry.com and gactv.com.

“GAC has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the Opry over the past eight years, partnering with them on ‘Opry Live’ and specials including ‘Country at the White House,’ ‘Music City Keep on Playing’ and ‘Country Comes Home.’ Special moments happen on the Opry stage and GAC is pleased to be able to share those moments with our viewers,” said Sarah Trahern, SVP/GM, GAC.

“We can’t wait to showcase some of this fall’s great Opry performances by the biggest names in country music with fans across the country on ‘Opry Live’ on GAC,” said Pete Fisher, Opry vice president and general manager.

Dierks Bentley Makes The Hot List

TV Guide Network is counting down the 25 hottest country-music singers! “Sexiest Stars of Country Music" will air Sunday, November 7th @ 6:00 pm ET/PT, and Dierks Bentley made the list! This one-hour special celebrates the 25 biggest names and rising stars in the world of country music including Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood. It also features new interviews with Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley, Sara Evans, Luke Bryan and Billy Currington.

'LONG TRIP ALONE' IS NOT ALONE ANYMORE

CMT compiled a list of the top 50 videos of the last decade based on "video viewing, including CMT's Top 20 Countdown airplay and viewer voting, airplay during CMT music video hours and on CMT Pure, viewing of on-demand videos, streaming onCMT.com and views on CMT Mobile." And guess who made the top 50? That's right, Dierks!

He may not have claimed the #1 spot (that honor went to Carrie Underwood), but considering how many videos have been made over the past DECADE, to make the top 50 is quite an honor itself. Congratulations to Dierks and big, big thanks to everyone who voted for 'Long Trip Alone.'

MAKING GAINS: IWMYCYE JUMPS

Dierks Bentley's third single from "Feel That Fire" is starting to make some serious gains on country radio. "I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes" jumped a healthy FIVE positions to #22 this week, and its star is definitely starting to shine brighter! It's just a tick shy of the top 20, and I'm fairly confident it should make the jump next week. It's currently neck-and-neck with the current Trace Adkins single, but Dierks is garnering more airplay on a day-to-day basis. Slowly but surely, the sexy song is climbing its way up the charts.

I know we're all doing our part, and our efforts are certainly paying off. To echo what we posted a little bit ago about RateTheMusic.com, I definitely want to encourage everybody to sign up. I would also encourage you to check out your local country station's website(s). Many stations have some sort of a listener advisory board that you can join, and they typically get feedback from surveys through RateTheMusic or something similar. I can say first-hand that the results of the surverys are important. WKKT here in Charlotte has the "Music Mafia" and utilizes RateTheMusic survey results to compile its daily "Charlotte's Most Wanted" countdown. "Close Your Eyes" has been a staple on Most Wanted every day since the station debuted it -- therefore it's resonating with the public. It was even #1 last Friday (it's been #2 all this week). To put it in perspective, not even Carrie Underwood's "Cowboy Casanova" has been on there consistently. Radio stations do care what we have to say! Sign up today!

I will see you all again next week, hopefully with a Top-20 chart position!

~ Carrie S. (DBC Rep/Chart Reporter ~ NC)

WEEK 7: IWMYCYE HAS STALLED

Well, "I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes" ran into a "Cowboy Casanova" roadblock on the charts this week. Carrie Underwood's brand-new single stormed onto the charts, debuting at #26, and preventing Dierks Bentley's latest single from being able to climb. So, it is still at #29 in it's 7th week on the Hot Country Songs Billboard chart.

The good news is, it is still being steadily added to more radio stations, and as of today is being played on 205 of 225 stations. Only 20 more to go!

It looks as though the public is starting to respond positively toward the song. Here in Charlotte, both country stations have a daily countdown, and IWMYCYE has been solidly in the top 3 for the past week on both stations -- which is awesome because one of the stations literally just added it last week! That same station (WSOC) has a message board on their homepage. I've been bugging them since the end of July to play the song via the message board (hehe), but yesterday when I went to their site I noticed 3 comments had been recently posted -- and EACH ONE was about IWMYCYE! And I didn't write them! ;) One said it was the greatest new song for couples. One said it was simply a beautiful song. And one requested it and said it was a must-hear. I was SO happy to read those positive comments. I think we'll really start to see the airplay pick up in the next few weeks, and I don't doubt the new video will help things along as well!

As always, keep doing what you're doing! Call and email your radio stations! Vote on the countdowns if you can! Request it on Yes.com! Keep it up, Congress! We'll get to #1 for sure!

~ Carrie S. (DBC Rep/Chart Reporter - NC)

CARRIE FOLLOWS DIERKS

Ever wonder why it's called the world wide web? Yep, those 3 little w's in front of a web address really do weave their way through a spider's web of infinity. I was just on Twitter and clicking deeper and deeper and found Carrie Underwood's official Twitter page.

Now that in itself is not so special, and the fact that she has 91,641 Followers is not so surprising, but SHE's only following 14 people! And, our president of the DB Congress--Dierks Bentley--is one of them! How about that!

http://twitter.com/cunderwood83

DIERKS DESIGNS GUITAR, BENEFITS OPRY TRUST FUND

If you're going to be in Nashville for the 2009 CMA Music Fest, be sure to schedule the Guitars of the Stars Benefit into your plans for Friday, June 12 at 2 p.m. Fans will be able to to bid on Epiphone acoustic guitars decorated by some of country music’s hottest stars at the inaugural auction at the Ryman Auditorium.

In addition to Grand Ole Opry member Dierks Bentley, other stars confirmed to contribute guitars are Charlie Daniels, Vince Gill, Jamey Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Craig Morgan, Dolly Parton, Kellie Pickler, Sugarland, Pam Tillis, Steve Wariner, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. These artists have designed the guitars in celebration of their current singles, hobbies, favorite country songs, or country music heroes.

All proceeds benefit the Opry Trust Fund, which has for more than 40 years assisted members of the country music community in need of help with medical bills, living expenses, utilities, rent, and food.

CMA and GRAMMY award-winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist Wariner will kick off the event with a number from his upcoming project, STEVE WARINER, C.G.P., MY TRIBUTE TO CHET ATKINS, followed by auction fun. The Opry star will serve as Celebrity Auctioneer, and GAC-TV and 650 WSM radio personality Bill Cody will be on hand as emcee.

I can't wait to see what Dierks' guitar looks like! I am envisioning a Feel That Fire theme of sorts, or hockey, or Harleys or blue-grass...or all of the above! What do you think his design will be? I am even more excited to see how much money his artistic endeavor brings in for the Opry Trust Fund!

DIERKS PRESENTS POSITVE IMAGE AT ACM's

Although we all know he totally deserved to be nominated for an ACM award but wasn't, Dierks Bentley was picked to present the Top Female Vocalist Award (to Carrie Underwood--Miranda got robbed IMHO!) at last night's ACM Awards. I thought he was looking dapper, and I was lovin' the soft curls. Let's see what the buzz was on Mr. Bentley.

First, there was a rehearsal observation from Whitney Pastorek via Entertainmentweekly.com: "3:23 p.m. Reba is on stage in front of me. She looks great. When does she ever not? Even in jeans and a sweater, she is a classier broad than I am. If doing this show's gotten old for her, I can't tell, and her run-thru of "Strange" is right on point, three straight times. After she finishes the song, a female announcer's voice says, "Ladies and gentlemen, Dierks Bentley and Darius Rucker." A tall man in glasses and a short auburn-haired woman emerge. They are neither Dierks nor Darius, I'm pretty sure."

During the live show--no Darius.

Nora Ashkar posted on film.com her favorite fashion of country men on the ACM Awards: "As for country's men, Jake Owen looked sharp in a white pinstripe suit and a shaggy do, and Dierks Bentley did us a favor sporting fitted jeans and a jacket while letting his curly hair lay loose."

Well, as Dierks always says, 'you can't believe the good without the bad,' so here's Saul Relative's (that's his name?, really?) take on Mr. Bentley's attire: "Still, the worst dressed had to go to Dierks Bentley, who presented. He looked as if he was wearing his little brother's suit jacket. It was buttoned, which made it look even worse. Then there was that pale yellow-ish tie. You could write a country song about the way that poor boy was dressed and have a hit on your hands. It was tragic."

Now Saul, that was kind of harsh, don't ya think? I thought the ensemble was ten times better than last year's mustard suit.

And, to end the fashion foo foo on a positive note, here's a quote from our very own DB Congress Historian, Stephanie: "Seriously, how freaking adorable is he?! The curls are looking good, a little scruff...I approve! Dude, you've been missed at the awards shows."

I refuse to write about any of the award nominees or recipients since our "Dude" and president was unrecognized--with not so much as a nod. In the words of Jerry-the-OCD-lawyer from Boston Legal..."hhmmppff!"

~Ronna (DB Congress Chair)