Get the latest gossip

5 Best Moments From Dierks Bentley’s Nashville Concert: ‘The Biggest Honky Tonk on Lower Broadway’

Dierks Bentley blended hits and humor, while spotlighting some of Nashville's hottest newcomers during his show at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

Noting that his father died two years after he was given the guitar, he honored his father’s memory by performing one of the first songs he played for his dad, John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Rice was first known as a songwriter, contributing to the Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise,” before he notched his own pop-country hits including “Ready Set Roll” and “Eyes on You.” He included all of those in his Bridgestone set, but best highlighting his talents were his newer songs, such as “Haw River,” that will be on his new album Goin’ Down Singin’(out Sept. 20), showcasing his more roots-leaning, rawer sound and matured songwriting. As Bentley reached the line “These dents and scratches in the wood/ Yeah, that’s what makes it sound so good,” he flipped his guitar over, showing the crowd his axe’s own expanse of scrapes and cuts, proving that the song is one of the most personal of his catalog. Bentley’s band of musical brothers was solid throughout his set, but offered a mighty, fleet-fingered showcase of their virtuoso talents as they performed the title track to Bentley’s 2010 bluegrass-inspired album Up on the Ridge, followed by a Worsham-led rendition of the Garth Brooks classic “Callin’ Baton Rouge.” From there, they welcomed rising country singer-songwriter Zach Top, who drew instant cheers from the crowd as he launched into his own “Sounds Like the Radio” and followed with the bluegrass/country song “Freeborn Man.”

Get the Android app