Dierks Bentley Digs Up His Roots in Bluegrass

10 Mar 10

I always knew I loved Dierks Bentley’s music. From the very first time I heard “What Was I Thinkin’,” I was pretty much hooked. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was about his music that I was digging, I just knew I liked it. A couple tracks and a few concerts later, I finally figured it out. It was Tim Sergent. He is Bentley’s steel guitarist and banjo virtuoso. And he manages to give every song a bluegrass flair. (I like Bentley’s songwriting and voice and all that, too, it’s just that Sergent’s work is a big standout in a sea of backing bands with more guitarists than a backing band really needs.) Now, seven years after Bentley debuted with his own brand of bluegrass fused with pop-country, he’s going to release a bluegrass and roots album, Up on the Ridge, this summer.

At every Bentley show I’ve been to, he talked about how he always wants to put at least one bluegrass tune on every album. The most recent was the whiskey-and-beer anthem, “Last Call,” which he recorded with Ronnie McCoury. But he wants to make sure you don’t think for one second that this new album is a “Dierks Bentley and friends” or a “Dierks does bluegrass” album. “I wanted each song to have something special about it, and in the end I think each song really does have its own thing going on,” he said. So he’s rounded up folks like Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, Sam Bush, Tim O’Brien, the Del McCoury Band, Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers to each contribute a little something.

Although I’m waiting impatiently to hear Tim Sergent’s banjo, because to me all good bluegrass starts and ends with banjo, Bentley warns, “It’s my version of bluegrass music. It’s not just banjos cranked up to 11. It throws out a big net.” Whatever. I still can’t wait.

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