Bonita Springs Florida Weekly

Dierks Bentley bringing “Beers On Me” tour to Hertz Arena




Dierks Bentley JIM WRIGHT / COURTESY PHOTO

Dierks Bentley JIM WRIGHT / COURTESY PHOTO

For Dierks Bentley, the pandemic turned out to be a blessing in disguise. While he laments the fact that the world shut down just as he and his touring band were about to launch a tour as Hot Country Knights — their highly entertaining 1990s-inspired country side band — it allowed him to enjoy a side of life he had rarely been able to experience over the preceding decade.

He found with the shift in lifestyle, he wasn’t missing touring as much as one might expect.

“I wasn’t like literally jonesing (to play live) like maybe some people were,” Bentley said about the pandemic in a recent phone interview. “I kind of saw an opportunity to rebalance my life in some way that would benefit me when live music did come back around. And that’s exactly what I did. I moved to Colorado and put the guitar in the closet and just was focusing on life adventures outside of the stage, and it was awesome.”

So for much of 2020, Bentley, his wife Cassidy, and their three kids took advantage of the great outdoors that are central to life in Colorado, taking bike rides, hiking and making the best of life in their new stomping grounds.

“I kind of play three roles, and they’re all really important to me,” Bentley explained. “Of course, one of them is a husband and father, and family, that’s a big role I play. And of course, country singer and all that goes with that. And the third thing would be an outdoors person, an outdoor adventurer. That’s really important to my overall well-being and my health. So to get to be in a place where I really can focus on two of those three heavily — my family and outdoor living and adventure — was something I had missed out on a lot. I missed a whole decade that I don’t even remember because I was drunk or hungover. I was just playing music. There were 10 years when I didn’t even get off of the bus except to go play a show.”

But as 2021 headed into spring, Bentley found himself back in Nashville as he prepared for his return to touring. He also put in some hours on his next studio album. He tested the live performing waters with his touring band with a short run of club shows in May 2021 and later launched his “Beers On Me” tour, which continues this summer visiting the kind of outdoor amphitheaters, arenas and major festivals that Bentley had grown accustomed to playing as he became one of country’s leading stars over the past decade.

His success has been fueled by strong songwriting, which in turn, has produced 21 No. 1 country singles since he came on the scene with his 2003 self-titled album. Over the course of eight subsequent albums, Bentley has fashioned a rootsy country sound informed by his love of bluegrass, a strong sense of melody and thoughtful lyrics that have frequently dealt with the joys and challenges of life in authentic ways.

Bentley will likely play his two recent singles, “Gone,” and “Beers On Me” (the song for which the tour is named) this summer, but his set will be anchored by the hits.

“Everything’s been flowing pretty good,” Bentley said. “I always lean pretty heavy on the hits. I can’t believe I have 21 number ones, that’s just kind of blowing my mind.”

Bentley’s show, he said, is designed to live up to the title of the tour – minus, one would assume, the actual free beer.

“The common goal of any tour is to take the audience and yourself on a ride, on a journey that transports them away from their everyday and the problems they’ve been dealing with or what’s been on their mind and it allows them to get in that headspace where they’re just present,” Bentley said. “They’re here at a concert with their friends, and they have a drink in their hand and for an hour and a half, two hours, whatever, three hours, they’re just present. And being present is the most freeing feeling you can have in your life.”

In between shows Bentley figures to have a chance to continue putting together his next album. He got a good start on the project during his time away from touring.

“I’ve recorded a lot of songs, probably more than I ever have in my career (for an album),” Bentley said. “But if you give me extra time, I’m going to use it. And (I’m taking time) just make sure I really have this album saying what I want it to say and being a cohesive piece of work with a theme. The album’s, more than ever it’s all about streaming. Everyone’s streaming. No one’s buying albums, me included. So I’m really making this album mostly for myself, and it’s a labor of love. It’s not about the result. It’s about just knowing you didn’t take any shortcuts. You made the hard decisions. You cut songs out, even though you wanted them to be in there, because they didn’t (fit) the overall theme, what you’re going for, and it’s something I can look back on as almost like a scrapbook, a memory of that time in my life. A lot’s happened in the last two years and I’m just really taking my time to figure out and say exactly what I want to say.”

As for Hot Country Knights, Bentley suspects at some point the group will be able to put on their costumes and shaggy hairdos and finally bring that group’s music to the people in person after seeing their plans to promote the first Hot Country Knights album, “The K is Silent,” cut short by the pandemic. The idea for the band had been years in the making, and not everyone was sure it was a good career move for an artist of Bentley’s stature.

“I think my manager had been kind of like trying to push it away for years, going back to 2013. I think she just thought it would finally go away, this obsession with this ‘90s country band,” Bentley said. “At some point, I think she realized, around 2017 or 2018, it just wasn’t going to go away. And she was like well if you can’t beat them, join them. So she, Mary Hilliard, went all in on it and did it the right way, great writing sessions, great songs, a really fun studio process and big videos for it. I put as much, if not more, attention into that project than I did for my own records. We were set for a big launch and release in April 2020. We had late-night TV appearances, a book, and ‘Good Morning America.’ The album was coming out and we had a big 22-city tour in April and of course, it all got shut down. It kind of came to a sad ending.”

But Bentley expects he and his touring band — bassist Cassady Feasby, drummer Steve Misamore, guitarist Ben Helson, multi-instrumentalist Dan Hochhalter and steel guitarist Tim Sergent — will give Hot Country Knights another shot, probably with another album.

“At some point for sure, we’ll definitely have to get back into it again,” Bentley said. “It’s just too much fun.” ¦

In the KNOW

Dierks Bentley with Ashley McBryde and Travis Denning

When: 7 p.m. Aug. 18

Where: Hertz Arena, 11000 Everblades Parkway

Tickets: $106.75-$31.75

Contact: 239-948-7825 or hertzarena.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *