Dierks Bently

A remarkably prolific singer/songwriter on the Nashville scene, Dierks Bentley enjoyed multiple No. 1 singles on the country charts, including "Come a Little Closer," "Home" and "Drunk on a Plane," over the course of little more than a decade. Born Frederick Dierks Bentley in Phoenix, Arizona he was a devoted fan of country music from an early age. After completing his higher education at the University of Vermont and later Vanderbilt University, Bentley headed for Nashville, but found few interested listeners in his earliest musical efforts. He found solace in the local bluegrass scene, as well as from his day job at The Nashville Network (now Spike TV), for which he researched live performance footage of classic country artists. Both sources influenced his own music, which caught the attention of Capitol Records. In 2003, the label released his self-titled debut, which contained his first No. 1 single, the ebullient "What Was I Thinkin'." The record eventually reached platinum sales status, a feat repeated by his sophomore effort, Modern Day Drifter (2005), which hewed along the rougher, more traditional country sounds of Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. The album yielded two more No.1 hits, "Settle for a Slowdown" and "Come A Little Closer," and helped to earn Bentley the CMA's Best New Artist Award of 2005. That same year, he also became the third-youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry after Carrie Underwood and Josh Turner. Bentley returned to the more polished sound of his debut album for his third release, Long Trip Alone (2006), which again produced two No. 1 hits in "Every Mile a Memory" and "Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)." After issuing a concert DVD, "Live and Loud at the Fillmore" (2007), and a compilation album, Greatest Hits/Every Mile a Memory 2003-2008, which mixed chart hits with fan-chosen live tracks, Bentley released a pair of studio albums, Feel That Fire (2009) and Up on the Ridge (2010). The former offered two more No. 1 singles in the title track and "Sideways," while the latter, featuring a more bluegrass-driven sound, generated a pair of modest Top 40 hits with its title track and "Draw Me a Map." The relatively lower sales of Up on the Ridge preceded a period of mixed response to Bentley's work by country music listeners: his seventh album,Home (2012), kicked off with two No. 1 country singles - "Am I the Only One" and the title track - but its follow-up, Riser (2014), stalled upon release with the single "Bourbon in Kentucky," a duet with Kacey Musgrave that only reached No. 45, his lowest chart placement to date. However, two subsequent singles, "I Hold On" and "Drunk on a Plane," soared to No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart, returning Bentley to the top of the country music heap. Follow-up album Black (2016) continued his winning streak with three Top 5 country singles including the title track, "Somewhere on a Beach" and the Elle King duet "Different for Girls." Bentley released his ninth album, The Mountain, in June 2018.