CIRCUS LEADER DIERKS

They say behind every good man is a good woman, but sometimes behind every great man there are more great men! Take Dierks Bentley's band and crew for example. Listen to this great clip from zMAX Racing Country as Dierks talks about the great men behind him, how he leads the "rowdy" group of guys and some of the...trouble...they get into out on the road.

ROBBIE THE ROBOT OR GUITAR GEAR NERD?

Feature TLB member of the week...

Robbie Harrington, better known as the bass guitarist for Dierks Bentley, is typically a straight-faced player, who rarely smiles. I have taken hundreds of photos at dozens of live concerts in the last few years--mostly of Dierks, but if I am positioned on Robbie's side of the stage, I try to catch Robbie having a good time. I have witnessed a slight sparkle in the eye, maybe a wink, an occaisional hop--but rarely a smile!

Referred to as a "flexible power player" by bassplayer.com freelance writer Jimmy Leslie, Robbie Harrington hails from Las Vegas (Los Angeles?) and moved to Nashville about ten years ago. With a background in heavy rock, he toured five years with pop country artist Keith Urban before totally transitioning to contemporary/traditional country with Dierks Bentley. When asked how he approached the change he said, "You have to listen carefully to the vocal—to the story—for what can seem like random added or missing beats in order to suit the lyrical cadence. Learning that has helped me work with Dierks."

Harrington can be heard playing Space Bass on Life On The Run, from Dierks' Feel That Fire CD. He also lends his vocals during the live performance of this rocker-feel song. I love the part where Dierks sings, "Here they come now, gotta lay low", then Robbie chimes in "low, low, low, low." Although the liner note lyrics say "whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Another bass credit goes to Robbie for Better Believer, also on Feel That Fire.

But the biggest feather in his cap comes from the previous DB studio album, Long Trip Alone. Robbie tells Jimmy Leslie last year how a mistake helped him co-write (with Rod Janzen) the opening riff for Free And Easy (Down The Road I Go), which landed at #1 on the Billboard Country chart in 2008.

How does your gear inform your tone and your playing?
"I use a gigantic rig to get a huge sound, and I simultaneously run a guitar amp for distortion. I’m a total gear nerd. Oddly enough, I was helping fix the guitar player’s amp when we ended up co-writing the opening riff for the current single, “Free and Easy.” My biggest hope right now is for that song to take off, because this is the coolest gig I’ve ever had." (I think your hope came true--big time, Robbie!)

Recently, Robbie was caught between songs having a good time in Mahnomen, MN April 24, 2009 (photo credit MonaP). I think it has something to do with the fact that he is now closer to the front of stage and actually singing backup vocals during the live show.

Robbie the Robot, Guitar Gear Nerd or Rocker-Dude turned country boy? Time to vote! Leave a comment with your thoughts! Hey Robbie--ya there? You can vote on yourself, too!

LIVE CONCERT OR STUDIO RECORD, BOTH SOUND AMAZING!

I love listening to Rod Janzen, live in concert as Dierks' lead guitarist. Man, he can make that electric guitar sing! I love all the guys in the TLB (Terminally Loneseome Band)! Robbie Harrington can handle that bass without even blinking--and who knew he could actually sing! And who doesn't love the banjo/steel guitar playing Tim Sergent and bang-on-the-drum-all-day, Steve Misamore? These guys gel so well together, and the result is an amazing sound--live and in person!

But did you know most of Dierks' records are usually recorded with just as talented studio musicians? J.T. Corenflos can boast lead guitar liner note credit on every Dierks Bentley studio album song except the bluegrass cuts and Better Believer on Feel That Fire. The Terre Haute, Indiana native has been recognized six times for his guitar prowess by the Academy of Country Music and this year ws no exception.

So, with all those ACM nominations, do you think J.T. was named the 2009 Academy of Country Music Top Guitarist of the Year? Find out here.

DIERKS REVS IT UP IN DAYTONA

How does country music and NASCAR go together? That was just one of the questions at the Question and Answer session with Dierks Bentley on February 7, 2009 at the Daytona International Speedway. According to Dierks Bentley, they're a natural fit. A lot of NASCAR fans also love country music. And many of the singers and drivers are good ole boys who have formed friendships and an appreciation for each others' talents over the years.

I am so glad I spent the extra money to get the Dierks Bentley Special Offer package. Not only did we get to experience the ARCA race and the Budweiser Shootout race, but the special VIP passes gave us front row access to the Q&A, the pre-race concert and the post race concert.

My husband and I enjoyed the practice prior to the ARCA race and the people sitting behind us in the grand stands were wondering who was performing, so my husband told them "Dierks Bentley", and the girl said, "ooooo I really like him!" So he reached in his bag and gaver her one of my dbcongress business cards and started talking about the website--I was shocked he beat me to it!

I met up with Cora and Renee while my husband enjoyed the ARCA race. We were the only one's in the Q&A tent for the longest time--we were front and center. We were getting worried nobody would show up, but about 5 minutes before D was to be there, we looked back and the whole tent was full! Yeah! I had made up some business cards with the fan club and dbcongress.com website on them and placed them in the empty chairs (the new visitors to this site the next day was higher than any other day!). People were asking questions like "Are you going to sing?" - People--there were signs all over the place pre-race show/post-race concert!

One guy stood up and said he was the Bud distributor truck driver and wanted to know when Dierks was going to crack open that can of Bud Light at his feet by his stool--so he did.

The local DJ who was interviewing Dierks said, these ladies in the front row came all the way from Tampa--and he points to me and says, yeah I see Ronna and a lot of my fan club in the front row there. I asked the question, "Tell us about the Wubba Nub Girl song in the liner notes of your new album" He started to answer but raised the beer up to his mouth thinking it was the mic and started to talk. Everybody laughed. He explained something about the pacifier I think and that he wrote a song about it for his daughter. I asked him to sing a few lines, he said "No, that's a song only for Evie!" Oh well, I tried! The DJ had said to me earlier, I bet you don't care about the cars, you're just here for Dierks and I said "you're right!"

After the Q&A the ARCA race was just ending so we stood by the gate to go down on the track to the infield for the pre-race show.

We were dead center, but the stage was pretty high. They backed us up about 2 feel, telling us the "fire" would be coming out of these contraptions all across the stage--which it never did. But when I saw the DVR later, it was cool they way they had Dierks singing Feel That Fire and introducing the drivers with fire surrounding them. What they did not show on TV was him singing Free and Easy and Life On The Run. They sounded great as always. The only issue was the tall guy to my left with his elbow nearly on my head the whole time --he was video taping all 3 songs.

Click here for a YouTube version of the FOXTV broadcast of Feel That Fire/driver introductions.

Then we went back into the stands to watch the Bud Shootout--what an exciting 75 laps! And Dierks was given the honor to recite those most famous words in Motorsports..."Gentlemen, Start...Your...Engines!" and was named the Grand Marshall, riding around the track in the pace car.

Then back across the infield we trekked to the post-race concert. I was worried because they opened the gate late, and when we got down to the stage area, there was a sea of people everywhere! Although I was happy for D to have such a huge turnout, I had no hope of getting up front. So, we walked around the back of the crowd and lo and behold there was a VIP area up front that our ticket gave us access to! So we squeezed up to the rail on Robbie's side. They played 13 songs--revving up the fans from the start with Life On The Run--I love that song! They had the whole crowd screaming and loving it!

I asked Jay for the set list afterward.

Even though it was in the 40's--good excuse to wear my DB hoodie--during the concerts it felt like 95--the whole FanZone was on fire! On our slow march to Parking Lot # 7 we were freezing but pumped up from a full day of great music, friends, and sport. It was a long day but so worth it to see Dierks three times in one day!

DIERKS SINGS THE TONIGHT SHOW

Dierks Bentley and his band of brothers performed "Life On The Run" last night on Jay Leno's The Tonight Show. The rockin' song is hopefully the next single from the new Feel That Fire album, released last week--and topped the charts right out of the box! Jay's other guests included Amy Adams (Doubt) and American Idol judge, Paula Abdul.

A couple of our DB Congress California reps--Janet and Debbie--were in the audience and gave us their view of the on-and-off camera antics.

Janet: What you couldn't see was Paula reaching for Dierks and him backing up. Not so nice to grab, Paula! Afterwards, Deb and I stood up and he looked through the lights and said "thank you" to us. We were in the first row of real seats on the end 10 feet away from him and the stage. We yelled as loud as we could when the curtain went up and he nods (don't know if you saw this on camera) and came as close as you can get to a wave with his hands busy playing. Life On The Run sounded good. Look out - there's the next single! Rod [Janzen] had a grin on his face the entire time and Robbie [Harrington] has a mic and sings along on this one. It needs everyone's voices on the back up but it sounds good. Even without the revving on the front end.

At the end they filmed some promo spots. Dierks, Jay, Amy, and Paula were standing in a line, with Amy and Paula hanging on to each other. Jays says 'we have a double date here tonight with...' but it looked like guys against girls. The next promo, he says, the girls are all dressed up and turns to D (Dierks) and says 'what happened to you?' D just looks down at himself and pantomimes 'huh?' Funny. After the promos, we yelled, he acknowledged and then Paula goes after him and he grabs both Amy (in the middle) and Paula and has someone take a picture of the three of them. He did a nice job of fending Paula off. Pretty funny to watch.

DBC Wisconsin rep, Samantha commented, "When the curtain goes up, Dierks looked nervous but it seemed like when he saw some familiar faces he felt really comfortable!"

Debbie: I totally agree that it makes him feel better to look out and see familiar faces in the audience. Not just a bunch of people who don't even know who he is! We did have a blast at the show. Jay never does interviews with any musicians because he never leaves enough time for that! Maybe he will on his new show! When he took his camera after the show and took a picture of himself with Amy and Paula was funny! I think it might have been his video camera and we may see it on dierks.com when he posts all his little shots of himself doing his album release stuff. Anyway, it was great and we were very happy he noticed us and thanked us for coming.

Thanks for representing the DB Congress, ladies, and supporting our president!

You can watch the whole 42 minute show here, or just fast forward to the 38 minute mark.