Dierks Bentley plans greatest hits with a twist
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 – Dierks Bentley will give fans creative control of his forthcoming greatest hits album by allowing them to handpick special content, cover art and the album title for the project, due May 6 on Capitol Nashville.
In addition to Bentley's 10 Top 10 and 2 new tracks, visitors to www.dierks.com will be able to select their favorite live recordings, choose photos, and even name the album through the first-of-its-kind "DB Hits/Fan Project" program.
Starting Friday, Feb. 22, Bentley's fan club members will have exclusive voting rights for the first 24 hours before opening "DB Hits/Fan Project" to the general public the following day. The program will run for 3 weeks, and Bentley will unveil the results at an online town hall meeting on April 1.
The first 3,000 fans participating will get the privilege of having their name listed as an executive producer in the final album's liner notes, and a donation to Vanderbilt Childrens' Hospital will also be made in their honor.
"2008 is all about the fans," said Bentley. "I can't think of a better way to get my fans involved than to have them actually act as executive producers of this record. I hope the end result will be the perfect album for the hard-core fan and also a really cool abridged version for the casual fan who wants to know more about what we've been up to the last five years."
"Putting this album out is a way for us to mark the first five years with something special for the fans without spending too much time looking back," said Bentley. "We've got a lot of big things in store in 2008 and 2009 and plenty of work to do out on the road."
Bentley is currently in the studio working on his fourth studio album of original material and his Throttle Wide Open tour is back this week in Auburn Hills, Mich., Chicago and Battle Creek, Mich.
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Feel That Fire
Like it or not, music is a business. And when an artist as vital to the country world (so-called commercial country and beyond) as Dierks Bentley releases a new record, you can be sure that somewhere, someone in a suit is looking at graphs. So, in that unholy spirit, let's look at "Feel That Fire" in those terms. If it were a pie chart, it'd be dominated by two equally big old slices, one labeled Rockers and one labeled Ballads. The songs making up the former never fail to work »»» |
Greatest Hits: Every Mile A Memory 2003-2008
The idea of letting your fans pick the front and back cover photos and title of your greatest hits package could strike the casual observer either as gimmickry or a thank you to the hardcore. Not to mention having thousands of your fans fork over a few bucks to be listed as executive producers, albeit for charity. Fortunately, for Bentley, this effort does not come off as calculated.
He accumulated a slew of excellent songs in a career continuing on the upward trajectory. »»» |
Long Trip Alone
Dierks Bentley may be ready for prime time with his third CD. His first two yielded a bunch of number ones for an artist with a cool personality and country and bluegrass musical chops to boot.
And having avoided the sophomore slump, Bentley continues in the right direction here. There's a bit of a swagger and confidence in Bentley's voice -- the guy sings with attitude (the upbeat "Can't Live It Down"), and that's high praise with many singers today putting it all out. »»» |
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Concert Review: McBride, Adkins shine sometimes –
As Martina McBride pointed out, the pairing of the country singer with Trace Adkins on their current jaunt was surprising. After all, she's of diva-quality voice, petite, non-controversial unless you call singing songs that empower women controversial. Adkins, on the other hand, has not been afraid to speak his mind with a kick butt attitude.... »»»
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