Source: CMT
In all my years as a country fan, I’ve seen Dierks Bentley rock just about every stage there is. Summer festivals, small bars, big arenas, intimate theaters. But the Ravenswood Billboard Factory, which doubles as a vintage car gallery? That was a first. But there he was in Chicago last night (April 14), on a platform stage surrounded by 38 very, very high-end cars*, performing for a cluster of about 450 guests for the public television series, Live From the Artists Den. I don’t know if it was the four-man
and behind him or the acoustics amid so much steel and chrome, but Bentley sounded pretty close to perfect.
The solid two-hour set was packed with 19 songs, but not only the ones that made it to radio. Bentley talked about how hard it was to write so many songs, then only have about a dozen make it onto the record, then only a few get released as singles, and then they only get to play a couple at live shows. So he reached into his collection of fan favorites from all four of his studio albums for a set list that included “Wish It Would Break” and “Good Things Happen.” He did the expected stuff, too, but it was those surprises that stood out the most.
But Bentley wasn’t about to let the night end without some unreleased singles from his new album, Feel That Fire. Even without Patty Griffin’s dueting help, “Beautiful World” came off like the hopeful gem that it is both because of Bentley’s vocals and Tim Sergent’s steel guitar and banjo playing, which he seemed to be doing almost simultaneously if that’s even possible. And toward the end of the show, Bentley talked about how he always tries to get a bluegrass song on every album, and this time it was “Last Call.” A song like that really gives bluegrass music a good name.
* My personal favorite? Either the 1955 Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing or the 1963 Chevy Stingray.
