Dierks Does His Best Merle

Happy birthday, Merle Haggard! The Country Music Hall of Famer turns 77 today! Our prez, Dierks Bentley pays tribute to the legend and Crystal Milestone Award winner on a new record released April 1: Working Man's Poet: A Tribute to Merle Haggard.

"The track that may draw the most attention is the duet from Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley tackling Townes Van Zandt's western ballad "Pancho and Lefty," which Merle originally recorded with Willie Nelson on their 1983 No. 1 album of the same name," according to Country Weekly. "Against a galloping beat, Luke sings the Willie parts, with Dierks doing his best Merle."

Rolling Stone says, "Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley do a melodramatic arena-rock version of "Pancho and Lefty."

Watch the story of Pancho and Lefty unfold in the video below:




You can download "Poncho and Lefty" or the entire album on iTunes now. Dierks does his best Merle around the 3:20 mark.

Dierks Bentley Records "Little Boxes" for Showtime's "Weeds" Theme Song

If you're a fan of Dierks Bentley, you know how much he loves old things.  So it should come as no suprise that he's recorded the 1962 Woody Guthrie classic folk song, "Little Boxes."  The tune is the theme song for the Emmy and Golden Globe award winning Showtime series Weeds.  Dierks' rendition of the song will be featured on the upcoming last season of the show.

“When they approached me about recording the theme song for ‘Weeds,’ I jumped at the chance…I’m a fan of the show and thought the guys in my band could put a cool country spin on it,” said Bentley. “I think the only other country singer to try this was Willie Nelson…of course.”

"Little Boxes" has also been recorded by artists such as Elvis Costello, Ben Folds, Steve Martin, and the Decemberists.

To preview Bentley’s version of “Little Boxes,” click here.

"Weeds" airs at 9 p.m. CT Sundays on Showtime. The comedy-drama series is now in its eighth and final season. Dierks' version will be heard during the opening of episode nine.

DIERKS' THIRD 'THREAD' IS 'PRICELESS'

This week, Dierks Bentley's WSM radio show was "Priceless," as in legendary Country Music Hall of Famer Ray Price. "We're gonna do a whole show on Ray Price's music and his influence on me and a lot of my contemporaries." Dierks says.

The Thread is stringing us along, from DB's Station Inn roots, to his Lower Broadway antics and now the third show in the series demonstrates how the history of country music legends are all connected.

Although Lot of Leavin' Left To Do began the hour, it was the only Bentley-penned song played. Instead, Dierks took us for a ride in Ray's old buick, showcasing a lot of the songwriters that had hits with Ray Price, from 1956 forward. Like Crazy Arms, You Done Me Wrong (George Jones and Ray Price co-wrote), and a Bill Anderson penned tune--City Lights.

Bentley played Invitation To The Blues written by Roger Miller, matter -of-factly letting us know the song peaked at #3, but it just goes to show you don't need a #1 hit to have a big hit.

A natural story teller, he goes on to outline Ray Price's 1953 band - The Cherokee Cowboys. Who knew Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Paycheck were all in one band! What a treat for the 1950's audiences!

Dierks reminded us that even though we're all used to hearing Crazy sang by Patsy Cline, (a big hit in 1962 for her), that Ray Price recut it in 1967; his version only went to #73 but the cool piece of trivia is that Willie Nelson wrote it.

One of Bentley's favorite singer/songwriter's of all time, Kris Kristofferson wrote, For The Good Times, and it won Price a Grammy for Best Male Vocal Performance. The song went #1 in 1970.

Next on the Price play list is The Lonesomest Lonesome, written by Mac Davis. "I love the word lonesome," Dierks admits. For those of us who are lucky enough to own his 2001 independent album, "Don't Leave Me In Love," that word - lonesome - is laced between every other lyric on the CD!

Ray Price has had 109 charting singles in his career and might have a few more in him! He's one of our true icons, still singing on the Opry stage! Dierks obviously has a lot of respect for the great Ray Price.

This week's episode of THE THREAD, presented by Dierks Bentley, is now available for download from the audio archive on the Dierks Fans Message board. You will need to be registered to access this free audio. The show has been edited to remove advertising and lasts 48 minutes.