Dierks Bentley

Growing up in a nonmusical family in Phoenix, Arizona, country singer Dierks Bentley got his country music education on his own, listening to recordings. A love of the music inspired him to move to Nashville at the age of 19, but he quickly grew discouraged by the lack of public and professional interest coming his way. It all changed when he walked into the Station Inn, a bar where the bluegrass faithful hang out. An all-night jam session recharged his batteries and he restarted pursuing gigs. He landed a job at the TNN television network doing research on classic country music and by night he worked on his demos. Capitol Records heard the artist, signed him, and released his self-titled debut, Dierks Bentley, in 2003, which yielded the impossibly catchy single "What Was I Thinkin'."

Bringing his love of Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings more to the forefront, Modern Day Drifter followed two years later and became a Top Ten hit. In 2006 he returned with Long Trip Alone, a more polished effort that was commercial but not crass. Greatest Hits: Every Mile a Memory arrived in 2008, a bit early in his career for that, perhaps, but it did contain his key charting singles and added in fan-selected live tracks as a bonus, making it a nice summation of Bentley's work to date. A new album, Feel That Fire, was released in early 2009, followed by the bluegrass-themed Up on the Ridge in 2010. His sixth album, Home, released in 2012, featured a dozen new songs that the singer road-tested on tour, and it was an eclectic and varied affair, with guest spots from Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild as well as Tim O'Brien and Sam Bush, among others. ~ David Jeffries & Steve Leggett, Rovi