LITTLE ROCK — Scratch a bit below the surface, and you can find some Arkie blood in almost anyone. Just ask young country singing sensation Dierks Bentley, whose first name sounds mighty identical to a town in southwest Arkansas.
"My mom's side of the family started a lumber company," Bentley says, referring to the Dierks Lumber and Coal Co., which gave its name to a town in Howard County. Dierks is not too far as the crow flies from neighboring Pike County, where Billstown and Delight are located, a pair of towns linked to an earlier country crooner.
And Kevin Bacon-like, there's a link between Bentley and Glen Campbell, the pride of Billstown and Delight.
Campbell now lives in Phoenix, where Bentley was born and grew up. Bentley has heard of Campbell.
"Oh, yeah, my dad runs into him on the golf course," Bentley says. "Glen Campbell was a big influence on me. He was one of the first great voices I heard on country radio. Glen was definitely inspiring and made me think it was possible to do this. No one can entertain a crowd better than [Glen]."
Bentley, 31, has the same boyish good looks that Campbell had when he started turning out hit after hit in the late 1960s. Bentley has built a following with a major touring blitz, covering more than 300 dates in 2006, hot on the heels of his 2005 Country Music Association Horizon Award win. His isn't the formula for overnight success, however.
In 1993, young Bentley graduated from The Lawrenceville School, a prep school in New Jersey, followed by college at Vanderbilt University, conveniently located in Nashville, Tenn.
"It was kind of my way of achieving my dream," Bentley confesses, "going to college in that town. I wanted to buy some time, play around town, check things out. So I went to the Country Music Association, got a job as an intern and learned more about the town, country music and the industry."
He later found work at The Nashville Network (now calling itself Spike TV), researching old footage of country performances, which added even more to young Bentley's knowledge base.
"I had a chance to watch a lot of entertainers like Faron Young and Webb Pierce, while getting paid $10 an hour," Bentley recalls.
He even got a degree in English at Vanderbilt while building up his awareness of how country music's past turned into its present, as he worked on his own future. One night he walked into The Station Inn, a famous Nashville hangout for bluegrass musicians and fans. He soon knew enough to orchestrate a 2001 independent CD, Don't Leave Me in Love, which led to his major label deal with Capitol Records, home to his self-titled album in 2003, which contained "What Was I Thinkin'," his first No. 1 hit. Two follow-up singles, "My Last Name" and "How Am I Doin'," both on the first album, made it to Nos. 17 and 4, respectively.
His 2005 follow-up album, Modern Day Drifter, had a No. 3 hit, "Lot of Leavin' Left to Do" and a pair of No. 1 hits, "Come a Little Closer" and "Settle for a Slowdown." His first two albums for Capitol went platinum, for sales of more than a million copies. His latest CD, Long Trip Alone, was released Oct. 17, 2006, and the album's first single, "Every Mile a Memory," hit No. 1, about the time Bentley launched his first headlining tour.
The new CD contains 11 songs, all co-written by Bentley. One song, "Long Trip Alone," recounts Bentley's yearning for the love of his life, high school sweetheart Cassidy Black, as he made one of many cross-country drives to see her, before they finally eloped to Mexico and married Dec. 17, 2005.
"That song sums up 2005 for me," he says. "She stays home and takes care of our house and two dogs; no kids, yet. This year I won't be out nearly as much as last year, since we're doing bigger shows, which are a little more grueling than the small ones. So I'd guess about 150 or so will be the final total in '07. Doing a big headliner tour has always been the goal, playing the bigger rooms, making them feel like a small club.
"I wanted to pick the cities, design the lighting, pick the opening acts. It's all exciting and a big deal to us, after starting out in small clubs and bars. My biggest goal is for it to soundamazing. We're probably one of the smallest bands to come out of Nashville with a sound this big. It's just five of us onstage, a lot of lights, but not a fireworks display and no posing. We might do some music by Waylon [Jennings] and Johnny Cash. It's country music with a lot of energy."
The last song on the new CD, "Prodigal Son's Prayer," features bluegrass/country group The Grascals and an unusual set of guests: the inmates of the Charles Bass Correctional Complex, captured - as it were - on "background hums and foot stomping."
"We felt like the song needed something more," Bentley says, "and my producer had been doing some Bible studies at this facility, and he knew they were inmates looking for redemption, so we went there, and they all felt special and enjoyed it, helping us complete the song."
Next comes Live & Loud at the Fillmore, a live DVD, recorded in the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, set for release March 20.
"Our goal is to be one of the best live bands of any genre, and we hope we show it in there," Bentley says. "It's one night in Denver, with a 12-camera shoot in a big bar that holds 4,000."
Weekend, Pages 77 on 03/09/2007