Exclusive Streams of Songs from Dierks Bentley's Upcoming EP

Dierks Bentley's 4-pack Country & Cold Cans EP can't get here soon enough (available 8/21 on iTunes), so our DB Congress president announced each of the new songs as a sneak preview from three separate sites last week!

You can hear Back Porch from Entertainment Weekly; Grab A Beer from Yahoo Music and Summer on Fire from ESPN's Playbook. Dierks had this to say about "Grab A Beer."

 "It's kind of a no-brainer...It's probably my favorite [off the EP]. I love the groove, and I love that it's really simple what it's about. There's plenty of beer-drinking songs in country music, but I like how it has a little bit of soulfulness to it. It ended up being kind of dirty and fun, and I think my fans will really enjoy it."

ESPN Playbook also asked Dierks a few questions.  Here's one:

Why did you pick the three SEC schools as the places to perform this coming week?

The SEC lives and dies football. I've played those schools over and over again and I know what the kids are like. My brother also went to the University of Georgia. So I picked three schools that will party really hard and I know they will dig the record. It's going to make it fun for them and make it fun for us. You might as well park my tour bus at the Cumberland Heights Recovery Center in Nashville, I'm telling you right now. It's going be 72 hours of non-stop craziness and fun."

For tickets to the Back to College tour shows, click HERE.


Post a comment below and let us know what you think!  Which of the three songs do you like best?

Dierks Bentley To Release a Country & Cold Cans EP!

For those who can't get enough "Country & Cold Cans" from the Target  bonus track of the "Home" CD, Dierks is offering a 4-pack EP on iTunes August 21, and supporting it with a 3-day tour in 3 University towns.  Dierks tweeted last night to give us a hint:

From the Huffingtonpost.com:

 NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A few years ago Dierks Bentley went hard against country music convention by releasing a rockin' bluegrass-roots album. He's decided to break the rules again. This time around, Bentley is releasing a new four-song EP called "Country & Cold Cans" even while his last album continues to chart hit singles.

Turns out Bentley just wanted to have a little fun with his friends. "Sometimes that should be the driving force in your decisions, you know?" Bentley said. "It doesn't always have to be a business decision or well-thought-out plan. Just go out there, have fun, do it with some friends and put out some new tunes." "Country & Cold Cans" is out Aug. 21. The EP will be a digital-only release available on iTunes initially.

Bentley will support the EP with a quick three-date tour Aug. 20-22 at the University of South Carolina, the University of Georgia and the University of Mississippi. Tickets go on sale Friday.

 Bentley released his last album "Home" earlier this year and "5-1-5-0," his 10th No. 1 country single as both artist and songwriter, reached the top of the charts this week. It's the third No. 1 from "Home."

Normally, competing music would be considered a hindrance to the success of that album. But in this case, Bentley welcomes the interruption in business as usual. The music was written on the road, then recorded over a two-day period with his touring band and produced with Jaren Johnston, a member of The Cadillac Black – Bentley's opening band on tour this year.

The music is meant to be loose and off the cuff. With songs like the title track, "Grab a Beer" and "Back Porch," the aim is clear. Bentley said he's targeting the same kind of kids curious about country music like he was as a teenager growing up in Arizona. "It's called `Country & Cold Cans,'" Bentley said with a laugh. "It's not called Beethoven."

Just a few reminders

Hey Congress!

Remember that tomorrow, 3/29/11, is the release date of 'Am I the Only One' to iTunes and other digital media outlets! Make sure you download your copy and spread the word to all your friends.

Dierks is also performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Tuesday night! Tune in to NBC at 11:35 pm/10:35 CST.

And then Wednesday afternoon, tune in to CBS at 2 pm/1 CST to catch Dierks again on The Talk.

Bentley's 'Ridge' Gets 3 Grammy Nods & Best Album on iTunes, Amazon

This blog was posted on Dierks Bentley's MySpace and Facebook pages today.

DIERKS BENTLEY CAPS 2010 WITH THREE GRAMMY NOMINATIONS FOR UP ON THE RIDGE

iTunes and Amazon Both Handpick UP ON THE RIDGE For Their
“Best Albums Of The Year” Lists

Dierks Bentley & Friends UP ON THE RIDGE Show Planned For Feb. 12, 2011

Nashville, TN – December 15, 2010 – As 2010 comes to a close, country music maverick Dierks Bentley capped off a daring year with three GRAMMY nominations for Best Country Album for his critically acclaimed UP ON THE RIDGE and two nominations in the Best Country Collaboration With Vocals for the album’s “Bad Angel” featuring Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson and “Pride (In The Name Of Love)” featuring Del McCoury and Punch Brothers.

Since announcing this Spring that his fifth Capitol Nashville studio project would be steeped in the bluegrass and roots music that moved him to become a country musician in the first place, Bentley has garnered the support of fans, media and industry peers alike. UP ON THE RIDGE has been named one of iTunes “Best Albums Of the Year” and one of Amazon’s “Top 10 Country Albums of the Year.” It also earned glowing praise from critics who said the album was “the best country recording we’ll hear in 2010” (Washington Post), “timeless” (NPR) and “shocking in its freshness” (Boston Globe).

Bentley will close out his year UP ON THE RIDGE with a revival of his intimate Dierks Bentley and Friends pre-GRAMMY bash at the Troubador in Los Angeles on Feb. 12. The last edition of this event featured surprise guests including members of Pearl Jam, Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Dwight Yoakam and more.

Dierks Starbucks Pick of the Week!

A few weeks ago, Dierks Bentley's "Draw Me A Map" was the Pick of the Week at Starbucks! Even though I go to Starbucks every morning, I long ago stopped picking up the free itunes POTW cards since they never featured country artists. But then one day on Twitter, I saw a tweet from Arizona Harley that DB was the POTW! I drove to my local Starbucks the next morning and all the cards were gone, so I asked the manager, Ariel (yes, we're on a first name basis and my name to her is Grande Skinny Caramel Latte). She started to pull out a supply to refill and it was some other band. I said, "No, I want the one from last week for Dierks Bentley." She said "Yeah, those went fast, but hold on..." She went to the back room and came back with one in her hand. "You can have mine," she said. Well that just made my day--and affirmed my loyalty to Starbucks! I told her it wasn't like I didn't have several copies of the album, but this would be a great souvenir!

For those who didn't get one, here's the code that doesn't expire until January 28, 2011: 6TEWLYXEEJ9P. Go to itunes.com now!

DIERKS' MOM LOVES A GOOD TOE-TAPPER

As if I didn't have Feel That Fire, Sideways........ and every single song Dierks has recorded a gazillion times each on my iPod--studio CD versions, acoustic cuts, singles from compilations, etc.--I just had to buy the "Live from SOHO" 6-song set from iTunes just now. What I especially love about live versions, is that you get to hear Dierks talking and setting up the song he's about to sing. Such was the case for Sideways....

"This next song....wanna do Sideways?.....kinda categorizes the fun stuff....I kinda figured out with Free and Easy Down The Road I Go that sometimes you you don't have to have a rocket science-type of song to try to please everybody...as my mom would say... to have a good toe-tapper...I don't think my mom even listens to the lyrics...you either can tap your toe to it or you can't. It doesn't matter if the song could bring about world peace...you can either tap your toe to it or it doesn't..."

~Ronna

DIERKS RELEASES iTUNES EXCLUSIVE "LIVE FROM SOHO"

On January 12, the Apple Retail Store, SOHO in New York City, experienced Dierks Bentley's electricity as he performed songs from his latest album, Feel That Fire.


Dierks Bentley performs at the Apple Store Soho on January 12, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Loud/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Dierks Bentley (Photos by Rob Loud/Getty Images North America)

The award winning country music singer/songwriter will release an exclusive six song EP as part of iTunes' "LIVE FROM SOHO" series tomorrow (June 2). Dierks' intimate performance was recorded at Apple's flagship Soho store in January. "LIVE FROM SOHO"

(Photos by Rob Loud/Getty Images North America)

Track Listing:
1. Feel That Fire
2. Sideways
3. I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes
4. Life On The Run
5. Trying To Stop Your Leaving
6. Free And Easy (Down The Road I Go)

Bentley and country superstar Taylor Swift remain the only two country artists to participate in the program, which has also featured GRAMMY winning artists such as Adele, Kings of Leon and Linkin Park. The second single "Sideways" from Bentley's No. one debut album FEEL THAT FIRE continues to plow its way towards the No. one spot at country radio, landing at No. five this week. Fans can catch Bentley perform at LP Field during CMA Music Fest on June 11 and on the CMT Music Awards on June 16.

THE VIDEO FOR 'SIDEWAYS' IS HERE

The 'Sideways' video has been released to CMT and GAC as well as previously released on iTunes. Get ready to vote another video to #1 on all the countdown charts!

Dierks Bentley
 
More CMT Music
 
More CMT Music Videos

SIDEWAYS VIDEO LAUNCHES VIA ITUNES

Dierks Bentley's new Sideways video is now available for only $1.99 at iTunes. Although the norm is to have video previews available for his fan club first, currently, only a 30-second preview is showing for members on dierks.com. Dierks explains his rationale for the change in a personal response to his fan club journal commenters:

"cool...thanks for the comments!...fyi, i wish the video was making its debut for free here on dierks.com but there was a cool opportunity for us to do something exclusive with itunes...we get a ton of exposure at the itunes homepage...as soon as the week long itunes exclusive period ends, we will have it up on the site. i know times are tough...usually we would make the video available here (dierks.com for fan clubbers) first for free, but this was a great chance to team up with itunes and bring some more attention to the video. thanks....d"

I think Dierks always trys to find ways to go above and beyond for the fan club members (recently renaming us DB Congress is one example), and this one time the video does not debut "first" for us won't kill us. Plus, anything that gives him more exposure is a really good thing!

So for those of you who paid the $1.99 for the video, what do you think? Please comment below.

~Ronna

DB '09 TOWN HALL MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

Thanks to Fiona, here are a few highlights from last night's online Town Hall Meeting :

* The Sideways video will be up on iTunes on April 14th.
* Last Call Ball will be on June 10th
* Dierks is reading Twilight (this shocked me)
* Dierks says he is enjoying being a dad and Evie is about to turn 6 months old
* Dierks hasn't played any pranks of Brad Paisley but he says he is looking for a weak link in Brad's organization to help him out
* Cassidy loves the songs "I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes" and "Beautiful World"
* Dierks decided to change the name of the fan club to "DB Congress" and gave shout-outs to Ronna, David (and his flag!), Mona, and Tara for her bracelets.
* Dierks is excited to go to Australia and wants to meet Stacey while he is there!
* Dierks is not a fan of Twitter

If you have something to add, post it!

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Fiona
db Street Team Coordinator