Dierks Bentley: Making every second count

Dierks Bentley

Dierks Bentley

Dierks Bentley has had to re-think his view of music over the past few years.

"When I started off in country I was so militant about it that I wouldn't listen to anything that wasn't country or bluegrass," says Bentley. "I remember throwing music away! After I heard Hank Jr. it was country or nothing. Then I guess I got older and wiser."

He says it was hearing Hank Williams Jr.'s song "Man to Man" that affected him.

"I heard that song for the first time when I was 17 years old and it completely changed my path. I grew up listening to country music, but I got off into rock. But I heard that I was like, 'Oh my gosh. This is what I've been searching for!' Then the next thing was Marty Stuart's 'That's Country.' That's why I'm doing what I do - that one moment."

What Bentley has been doing for the past six years is having hits and touring the country. Born in Phoenix, Ariz., Bentley spent part of his youth in Lawrenceville, N.J., and later moved to Nashville to attend Vanderbilt University. He had his first hit in 2003 with "What Was I Thinkin,'" which went to No. 1 on the Billboard Country singles chart, and followed with "How Am I Doin?," "Lot of Leavin' Left to Do," "Every Mile a Memory," "Come a Little Closer," "Settle for a Slowdown," "Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)," "Feel That Fire," "Sideways" and many others.

Bentley is currently on tour opening for Brad Paisley, but is ending the year with a string of headlining shows, including the one at Knoxville's Civic Coliseum.

The night before this interview, Bentley had performed with the Paisley show at Madison Square Garden.

"We had a blast," says Bentley. "It's always a special place to play. We played for about 50 minutes. But my band and I would rather be playing a headlining show in Knoxville than a middle slot in New York."

Bentley's history with Knoxville stretches back to when he performed at Big Mama's Karaoke. He later became the first commercial country artist to perform at Bonnaroo.

Bentley is proud of his career, but is equally proud of his non-work life.

"I'm one of the guys who is fortunate enough to have a life outside of the stage," he says. "There's a lot of my contemporaries that that's all they got. I respect the sacrifice, but I want to have a successful career and a real relationship and a real family."

While it's sometimes written that Bentley married his "high school sweetheart," he says that it's not true.

"I met her in the eighth grade, so she's my middle-school sweetheart," he says.

Bentley and his wife, Cassidy Black, have a 1-year-old daughter. Bentley says deciding to have a child was the best decision he's made.

"I would highly recommend it," he says. "It puts a new perspective on everything."

It does, however, make touring a little different.

"We still party and we're making sure that, in the shows, we're getting a lot out of it, because sitting in a concrete parking lot is not as much fun as it used to be. It's still a lot of fun. There are still a lot of video games being played, but when you've got family back home, it needs to be special for us so it feels like our time is well spent."

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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