Phoenix, AZ · country

Dierks Bentley

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Two decades of arena country with a bluegrass streak — an easygoing showman who still sneaks banjo records between the radio hits.

Dierks Bentley was born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1975, the son of a bank vice president and Catherine Childs; his middle name, later adopted as his stage name, comes from his maternal great-grandmother's surname. He attended boarding school in New Jersey, spent a year at the University of Vermont, then transferred to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, graduating in 1997.

While working at what became the Great American Country network, cataloguing archival performance footage, he spent evenings at the Station Inn, a Nashville bluegrass venue, and played small clubs along Lower Broadway. In 2001 he self-funded a debut album, Don't Leave Me in Love, before signing to Capitol Nashville in 2003 for his eponymous debut.

His albums moved steadily afterward: Modern Day Drifter (2005) and Long Trip Alone (2006) were certified Platinum and Gold, followed by Feel That Fire (2009), Home (2012), Riser (2014), Black (2016), The Mountain (2018) and Gravel & Gold (2023).

Across those records Bentley has placed 27 singles on the country charts, eighteen reaching number one, among them "What Was I Thinkin'," "Come a Little Closer," "Drunk on a Plane" and "Woman, Amen." He also topped the chart as part of the all-star single "Forever Country."

Alongside the arena-scale singles, Bentley has kept a consistent interest in bluegrass, recording an acoustic-leaning album, Up on the Ridge, and regularly folding banjo, fiddle and harmony singing into his work. Live, he tends toward loose, high-energy shows rather than tightly scripted ones.

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