DB Congress Exclusive Interview: Catching Up With Dr. Feasby

Photo Credit: Stephanie Lanham, Riser Tour,
Charlotte/Raleigh May 9-10, 2014

Fresh off the Dierks Bentley headlining Riser Tour opening weekend, bass player Cassady Feasby (aka Dr. Feasby) found time to answer a few questions for us!  He told us about some of his favorite memories over the last four years and reveals a few secrets, showing his sly sense of humor and his serious side, too!  He promised his answers would be funnier than Fiddlin Dan's!  You be the judge!


Our last interview with you was in 2010, shortly after you joined Team Dierks. Wow, has it really been four years? What have you been up to?

Four years…wow! I joined Dierks three months before my daughter was born. Time doesn’t fly – it snowballs into bigger and better things.


How much do you love us when we prank you? Which prank stands out as a favorite for you?

As you know, I am NOT a fan of pranks! Ha! The most memorable (so far) is when 5 DB Congress members handed everyone in the front row pictures of me doing a shirtless Fabio pose on an Australian beach. I couldn’t keep it together. Wait, why are there pictures of me doing that in the first place? High fives, y'all!

Oh, you mean this one from the Beaufort, South Carolina show in April 2012? Yep--that was us! We purposely held those up during "Feel That Fire." High fives back at ya!

You are quite the quirky “Tweeter.” While you are still “@drfeasby,” you changed your Twitter name from Dr. Feasby to Capt. Chet. Why is that?

Dan “Hawk” Hochhalter and I have a running theme: ‘High on Ideas, Low on Execution.’ One of those ideas is our bluegrass side project. In two years we finally have a name –no songs- just a name: Capt. Chet and the Dead Weight. I doubt @fiddlindan will be changing his Twitter name. He has so much more to offer than just dead weight.


What is your favorite tour memory?

Free Bus Rides? Haha. There are so many great memories. Highlights would have to be playing the Grand Ole Opry, the Grammy’s, and Red Rocks (not to mention the first night of the Riser tour – insane!) When the infamous Goldie Bus crossed the 1 million mile mark we pulled off the side of the road just inside the US border after a 2 week Canadian run and partied right on the highway. We definitely have a good time wherever we go!


Your guitar pick features the Dierks Bentley Riser bird on the front and your initials on the back – in sign language. What’s the significance of that?

Two of my sisters-in-law are hearing impaired and one of my brothers-in-law is an ASL interpreter. It’s kind of a tip of the hat to them. One of my goals this year is to become a better signer.


We know you love to scout out the venues ahead of a show date for the local fishing opportunities. How many fish have you caught? And since you love to cook, do you keep them in the bus and cook them up for Team Dude after the show?

Last year I became more of a fishing lure collector than an actual fisherman. It’s pathetic. However, Tim Sergent [steel player] and I went the day before the opening night of the Riser tour and landed several 3-7.5 pound large mouth North Carolinian bass. On the road we usually catch and release after taking a few fish selfies (of course, right?)


One of our favorite songs on Dierks’ new album, Riser, is the title cut. Every time I hear that 5-beat bass guitar, all I can hear is you playing it. How does it feel to play this song live?

Riser is my favorite song on the record. I’m glad it’s in the set list – as it should be! Bourbon In Kentucky is really fun to sing and play. Oh…and Damn These Dreams – so true.


Which Dierks music video has been the most memorable for you? To this day, we can’t watch you all sing “Am I The Only One?” live on stage without think of you as “Wild Man Willie.”

The [Up On The] Ridge video comes to mind because it was the first video I was in literally weeks after I joined. 5-1-5-0 was obviously a complete blast. I lost my wedding ring jumping into the mud off the back of Dierks’ truck. My wife wasn’t happy or surprised however. The Drunk [On A Plane] video was pretty silly. I was finally able to live out my childhood dream of being a flight attendant. It’s too bad no one has any fun out here!

Thanks for taking the time to do this! We very much appreciate it!  By the way, WE'RE having fun too! 


The Drunk On A Plane video premiers tomorrow, featuring Dr. Feasby as "Sergei Mariposa."  Check back with us here on dbcongress.com over the next few days for the recap of the Riser Tour opening weekend shows!

DB Congress Exclusive Interview: Catching Up With Fiddlin' Dan!

photo credit: Carrie Srebro

Our last interview with Dierks Bentley's fiddle player, Dan Hochhalter, was in 2010, a month after he joined Team Dierks. Dan graciously agreed to play catch up with us and answer a few questions, in between the busy Riser release activities.

Dan tells us about his favorite song to sing live, what he's learned from Dierks and what Dierks has learned from him, he reveals the songs on the Riser album that he played on, and much more.

The fiddle is your main instrument—thus the nickname “Fiddlin’ Dan.”  But you also play some guitar, mandolin, banjo and ganjo (6-string banjo).  We noticed Dierks is trying to learn the banjo—what lessons are you teaching him?

Honestly, Dierks and I both started learning the 5-string banjo around the same time. I was visiting my family up in Minnesota a few summers ago, and a friend of mine had a banjo that he wanted me to take back to Nashville and get appraised. So I took his banjo back to Nashville with me and soon found myself messing around with it at home and on the bus. I think it piqued everyone's curiosity because after a few days, Dierks, Steve [Misamore, drummer], and I all were learning how to play. So, I don't know if there are any banjo lessons that I've been able to teach Dierks (or anyone!), but Tim [Sergent, steel guitar, banjo] has taught all of us a lot since he's played the banjo his whole life.

You recently posted a photo of your guitar you’ve had since you were 16 years old.  In fact, it made its Grand Ole Opry debut on February 7th! That’s amazing you still have it!  Talk about how you came to acquire it, and how did it feel playing it on the Opry for the first time?

When I was 16, I bought the guitar that you are referring to. I already had a cheap acoustic that I'd had for a year or two and wanted to get an electric guitar, so I used money that I had saved from working my summer job (construction) and doing gigs with local bands to buy it. It's an interesting instrument because Fender only made the model I wound up buying for a few years. It's an American Standard Deluxe Telecaster with two Tele pickups and a Strat pickup in the middle. Some of the first songs I learned how to play were classic country songs, so playing that guitar on the same stage where a lot of those songs were probably performed for the first time was a really cool experience.

You are playing fiddle and banjo on Dierks’ newest album, Riser.  You and the rest of the band also played/sang on the EP Country & Cold Cans.  One song on both is Back Porch.  Are there more songs on Riser that you play on?

As you know by now, "Back Porch" was re-recorded for the Riser album. But for whatever reason, they decided to keep my banjo part from the original version and put it on the new version. Brian Layson played all new solos for the Riser version as well (guitar, resonator mandolin, and ganjo). The other song that I got to play on was "Drunk On A Plane," and for that one I played fiddle.

On tour with Dierks, you’ve played on every kind of stage from live crowds in dive bars to the nationally televised Grammy Awards.  Tell us about your most memorable experience from both ends of the spectrum.

It'll be hard to top the Grammy Awards. There is just so much history and credibility associated with the Grammys, so it was a huge honor to be a part of the show. I hope that we represented Nashville well.

On the other end of the spectrum, a few years ago we played a festival in College Station, TX. The crowd was drunk, loud and crazy...so much so that they were throwing everything and anything up on the stage at all of the bands. Shirts, boots, beer cans, you name it. Normally when someone throws a full can of beer at the stage, it's a sign that the show isn't so good, but apparently it's considered a compliment at this particular festival...at least that's what we were told.

Tell us about your favorite music video experience?  We were especially impressed with your portrayal of “Ray had a date with his wife” in “Am I The Only One?”

I don't know if there was much to be "impressed" with regarding my acting skills, but I appreciate the kind words! The "Am I The Only One" video was definitely a fun one, as was the shoot for "5-1-5-0." We shot that one down in Georgia and had a blast hanging with the locals and jumping (getting pushed) into the mud pits. Outside of Dierks' videos, another fun one that I was a part of was Gretchen WIlson's "California Girls" video. That one was shot on the beach in Santa Monica, CA. It was a really fun video to shoot because we basically got to spend the day hanging out on the beach and playing carnival games on the pier. Not a bad day at the office!

You’ve had the opportunity to meet and play on stage with many music legends while touring with Dierks.  Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, Joe Walsh, Bon Jovi, and most recently OneRepublic during CMT Crossroads, which aired in mid-March.  Who were you the most impressed to meet and why?

Meeting Mike McCready was so awesome for me. Pearl Jam's "Ten" album was the very first cassette tape I ever purchased as a kid back in 1991, and then a few years later I bought it again on CD. I've been a fan of theirs from the beginning, so getting to meet him and share the stage with him was amazing.

You were recently a spectator in the audience when Dierks performed his Up On The Ridge set at The Station Inn.  Did that make you feel anxious to be up on stage with him or relieved that you had a night off to relax and enjoy from the audience point of view?

It's really fun for me to sit in the audience once in a while, and I love hearing Dierks sing some bluegrass. He does a great job, and the musicians he had onstage with him that night were truly world-class.

If you could not do music for a living, what would you be doing?

That is really difficult to say. Growing up, I always fantasized about someday making a living playing music. I still pinch myself from time to time because I am so lucky to do what I do. But if not music, I probably would have found my way into the math/science world. Maybe I would have become an engineer or somehow gotten involved in finance. I've always enjoyed math and problem-solving (nerd!), so I could see myself enjoying that.

What is your favorite song to perform live?

Now that Dierks' new record is out, I love playing "Riser" every night. It's such a powerful and well-written song, and it's an easy one to get lost in.

What have you learned from Dierks and what would he say he has he learned from you?

I have learned so much from Dierks. He's the hardest working artist I've ever worked with, and I am inspired by his constant drive. He's never satisfied with "good enough" and is always striving to make the show as good as it can be. That kind of work ethic is contagious.

As far as what he's learned from me, I have no idea...maybe how to quickly run up all of the stairs at Red Rocks? Or how to score more goals in Xbox hockey?



Thanks, Dan! We'll see you on the road on the Riser Tour this summer!