Country music star Dierks Bentley will play his distinctive style of country music at Rick’s Caf Wednesday. The up-and-coming singer plans to entertain the crowd with a night of laid-back country music preceded by another new country singer, Shelly Fairchild.
The Phoenix-born Bentley toured earlier this year and will go on the road again with George Strait at the beginning of next year. He recently won the Academy of Country Music’s New Vocalist of the Year and the CMT New Artist Video of the Year for “What Was I Thinkin’.”
His current CD Dierks Bentley has produced four Top 10 singles and has been certified gold. Dierks plans to release a new CD in January with a new single debuting in November. This type of success hasn’t come easyily for Bentley. He’s traveled a long road to get to where he is today.
According to Bentley’s Web site, he moved to Nashville from Phoenix when he was 19, playing at numerous bars around Nashville accepting free beers as payment.
He worked for TNN (The Nashville Network) in the tape library researching old country music footage and sending royalty checks to songwriters whose songs were being played on the network. After making an independent record that caught the attention of Music Row, he snagged a publishing deal with Sony and later, a recording contract with Capitol Records.
The result of his efforts produced a record that is creatively sounding and pure country. The album consists of 13 songs, 11 of which Bentley either wrote or co-wrote.
“In today’s politically correct world, it often isn’t appropriate to talk about drinking, but I wanted to make a record you can drink a couple of beers to,” Dierks Bentley said. “There are songs that make you want to get up on your feet and there are some that make you want to sip on a beer and get lonesome for a little bit, but that’s what country music to me is all about-the good and the bad.”
Rick Welch, owner of Rick’s Caf is especially fond of Bentley, seeing how Bentley drew a huge crowd to Rick’s when he played in Starkville this past spring.
“He played a show here last year and was excellent,” Rick Welch said. “Hopefully he’ll make this one of his regular stops on his tours.”
Even as Bentley grows as music star, he still feels he must focus on the people that support his music.
“The college crowd is very important to him,” Bentley’s promoter Henry Glasscock said. “He likes the small, beer-drinking, rowdy crowd-type shows. He’s on his way to Texas to play a 20,000-seat venue, but he’s not big enough yet to run the show the way he wants to run it.”
Welch and Glasscock agree that Bentley’s shows are nothing short of exceptional, saying that otherwise Bentley would not be where he is today-an award-winning country musician.
“[Bentley] has great live shows where he mixes in covers of some of his classic country influences-like Merle Haggard and George Jones,” Glasscock said. “It’s a real high energy show; everybody starts screaming, and it doesn’t stop.”
“His shows are great,” Welch said. “He has great crowd interaction, and if you’ve heard him but haven’t seen him play live, I highly encourage people to come see him and meet him because once you meet him, you’ll be hooked. He’s a really nice guy who’s really personable and enjoys hanging out with his fans.”
The opening act for Bentley’s show will feature Clinton native Shelly Fairchild, who has an intense yet engaging style of music, compliments of veteran Buddy Cannon and renowned guitarist/producer Kenny Greensberg who produced her debut CD.
“[Shelly’s] very talented,” Welch said. “She’s been working very hard to get where she’s at.”
Camera hogs might also want to check out Bentley’s show because there will be a camera crew shooting video footage at the concert. The footage will most likely be used for a DVD or one of Bentley’s music videos.
Tickets are $15 in advance and can be purchased at Rick’s Caf or online at www.rickscafe.net.
Doors will open at 8 p.m. with Fairchild performing at 9 p.m., followed by Bentley at 10:15 p.m.