HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM SERGENT!

Ashland, Kentucky native Tim Sergent is a talented musician, making his living on the road as Dierks Bentley's steel guitar and banjo player. And today was no exception. It's his birthday, but he worked on stage with Dierks and the guys, performing to raise money for Vanderbilt's Children's Hospital in Nashville for DB's annual Miles and Music For Kids celebrity motorcycle ride and concert. The event raised over $215,000 this year - more than double the three previous years.

My goal this year was to meet all the guys in Dierks' band. I met Tim (and Rod) in February in Tampa at another benefit--WQYK for St. Jude's. Tim and Rod were supporting Dierks in an acoustic set and in between they were just hanging out having coffee so I asked for a photo op!

I met Tim again at Last Call Ball and also chatted a few minutes with him after The Tabernacle in Atlanta. He told me he plays the fiddle some, and I told him I'm waiting to see that added to the live show! My dream would be to see "Gonna Get There Someday" live, with Dierks singing and Tim playing fiddle!

I also found a beautiful video on YouTube of Tim showing his stuff:



Tim Sergent playing one of the new Jackson steel guitars at the show at Steel Guitar Nashville January 14, 2009 posted on YouTube by bobbeseymour

Here is a comment on YT from below that video: jd774U (6 months ago) Thanks for the great video. I knew Tim back in the 80s in Ashland KY - he was a child prodigy!  He could play anything - banjo, guitar, piano, etc. and was destined for Nashville from birth. A really great guy too, i wish we had more of him on youtube! (got any more?)

Tim plays the banjo! My brother filmed and edited this video exclusively for dbcongress.com:


Posted on Youtube by dbcongress February 09, 2009: Originally scheduled to be pool-side, Dierks Bentley performed live inside Floyd's on this 32 degree Florida morning, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa from 7-9 a.m. Audience members earned a seat by serving as Partners in Hope for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. WQYK broadcast the event live and Charley Belcher from FOX13 was also there filming live for tv.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM! I hope you see this and hope you had a fanstastic day! See ya Friday night in Tampa!

~Ronna
DB Congress Chair

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.

A NEW TWIST ON FEEL THAT FIRE

I know there are tons of raving reviews out there right now on Dierks' new Feel That Fire CD (and I for one am rightly pleased!), but this one had a little different spin. Enjoy!



Is Dierks Bentley trying for some pop crossover?
Published Saturday February 28th, 2009

Mainstream commercial country music has some shining stars, and one of them is Dierks Bentley. His fourth studio album Feel That Fire could be interpreted as his stab at some pop crossover as well.

For example, the album begins with a guitar effect straight out of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love to kick into the lead track Life On The Run. As Bentley establishes a mid-tempo groove, it is above all else a mainstream pop tune. This is despite the country spices in the instrumentation and storyline of a solitary rambler.

This transition is a very east one for the Arizona-born Bentley. His early years were honed with country soil, and always conjured up images of the Merle Haggard/Waylon Jennings school. However, he has always managed to straddle on terrain outside those country roots.

At his best on this album, as in his career of the decade, Bentley is a songwriter in the broadest sense. His voice could safely fit in any genre, being the polar opposite of a trademark country twang.

That said, Bentley's ultimate foundation is the country genre itself. Spices are always there - steel guitar in the love anthem with a pop beat Feel That Fire and the mid-tempo groover You Hold Me Together, banjo at the end of the work-week tale Sideways, Tex Mex in the love lament I Can't Forget Her.

In all cases, his able lyrics match his melodies in basic country genre storylines.

The 12-song album has a few traditional country moments, and they are collaborations. One is in songwriting, as Bentley teamed up with Rodney Crowell to write the anthem Pray. Bentley also duets with Patty Griffin on the waltz Beautiful World. The album closer is Last Call, a bluegrass romp with Ronnie McCoury and his band.

Whether Bentley reaches beyond his considerable country fan base with this album remains to be seen. Regardless, he has delivered something that will keep his bread and butter audience rightly pleased.

Fredericton-based freelance writer Wilfred Langmaid has reviewed albums in The Daily Gleaner since 1981, and is a past judge for both the Junos and the East Coast Music Awards. His column appears each Saturday.

Source: http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/rss/article/587521