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His debut album and its follow-up, 2005's Modern Day Drifter, are certified platinum in the United States. Learn 50 facts about country singer and songwriter Dierks Bentley.
1. Made a life-altering drive with his father from Phoenix to Nashville when he was 19 years old.
2. In his music he has mixed elements of modern country, classic country, bluegrass and rock
3. His album Home debuted at No. 1 and spawned three consecutive chart-topping hits, marking 12 career No. 1 songs for Bentley as a singer and songwriter.
4. His five previous studio albums have sold more than five million copies.
5. His albums garnered 11 GRAMMY nominations.
6. His records earned him an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry.
7. Frederick Dierks Bentley is known professionally as Dierks Bentley.
8. Bentley is a country music singer and songwriter.
9. He has been signed to Capitol Records Nashville since 2003.
10. In 2003 he released his self-titled debut album.
11. His debut album and its follow-up, 2005's Modern Day Drifter, are certified platinum in the United States.
12. A third album, 2006's Long Trip Alone, is certified gold.
13. In mid-2008 he released a greatest hits package.
14. His fourth album, Feel That Fire was released in February 2009.
15. A bluegrass studio album, Up on the Ridge, was released on June 8, 2010.
16. His sixth album, Home, followed in February 2012.
17. His seventh album was called Riser and came out in 2014.
18. Bentley's studio albums have accounted for eighteen singles on the country singles chart, of which thirteen have reached No. 1: his debut single "What Was I Thinkin'", as well as "Come a Little Closer", "Settle for a Slowdown", "Every Mile a Memory", "Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)", "Feel That Fire", "Sideways", "Am I the Only One", "Home", "5-1-5-0", "I Hold On", "Drunk on a Plane" and "Say You Do".
19. Four more of his singles have reached the Top 5.
20. Dierks Bentley was born in Phoenix, Arizona.
21. Dierks Bentley is the son of Leon Fife Bentley a bank vice-president, and Catherine Childs.
22. His father was born in Glasgow, Missouri, to Richard Thomas and Mary Cecile Fife Bentley.
23. His father was a First Lieutenant in World War II.
24. He uses his middle name Dierks as his first name.
25. His middle name Dierks is his maternal great-grandmother's surname.
26. He attended Culver Academies and graduated from The Lawrenceville School in 1993.
27. Afterward, he spent a year at the University of Vermont before transferring to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he graduated in 1997.
28. He was initiated into the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity while he was at Vermont.
29. Bentley worked at The Nashville Network (now Spike TV), researching old footage of country performances.
30. In 2005, Bentley won the CMA Award for the Horizon Award (now Best New Artist).
31. He was invited to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry. The induction took place on October 1, 2005.
32. Bentley stands as the third youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry after Carrie Underwood and Josh Turner.
33. In 2007, Bentley released a live DVD titled Live and Loud at the Fillmore, which was filmed in Denver, Colorado.
34. In a March 2008 interview, Bentley said he would let his fans be the executive producers of his first greatest hits album, Greatest Hits/Every Mile a Memory 2003-2008.
35. Dierks has been quoted by American Songwriter explaining "I wrote too many songs. I wrote 70. I wrote a lot. There's 64 that are never going to see the light of day. That's 64 days that I can't get back."
36. On August 21, 2012, Bentley released the Country & Cold Cans EP on iTunes. It includes five songs, including a radio edit of the track "Tip It On Back" from his album Home.
37. Bentley paid for the studio time to record the EP himself.
38. On October 23, Bentley and Miranda Lambert announced the co-headlined 33-show Locked & Reloaded Tour, that began on January 17, 2013.
39. Bentley married Cassidy Black on December 17, 2005.
40. Bentley and Cassidy Black's wedding took place in Mexico.
41. Couple now lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
42. The couple has dogs Jake and George.
43. His dog Jake has appeared in a few of Dierks' videos.
44. The couple welcomed their first child, Evelyn Day Bentley, on October 4, 2008.
45. Their first child's nick name is "Evie".
46. Evie makes a vocal appearance on the song "Thinking of You."
47. Their second daughter, Jordan Catherine Bentley, was born December 25, 2010.
48. Their son Knox was born on October 9, 2013.
49. On June 2, 2012, Bentley announced his father had died the previous day.
50. Bentley holds a private pilot license and owns a Cirrus SR22.
Source: dierks.com, Wikipedia.org
