DIERKS BENTLEY TAPS SOME OF THE HOTTEST ACTS IN COUNTRY MUSIC FOR HIS ‘PLATINUM AND PORCELAIN’ TOUR
Opening On Various Dates Are Miranda Lambert, Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, the Randy Rogers Band and Wade Bowen.
NASHVILLE, TN – Feb. 7, 2006 – Dierks Bentley’s fast-rising new Capitol Records single may be titled “Settle For A Slowdown” but the momentum behind his career shows no sign of letting up. His climb to country music stardom continues to take one giant leap after another as 2006 already looks like it will surpass last year’s ground-breaking achievements for the current CMA Horizon Award winner.
After thrilling packed nightclubs and theaters for the last two years, the high-energy honky-tonk prince will spend most of 2006 inside high-tech arenas and enormous outdoor stadiums. Bentley is currently playing a series of high-profile headlining concerts before joining the biggest country music concert package of the summer, Kenny Chesney’s The Road & The Radio ’06 Tour.
The platinum selling artist remains as busy as ever: After playing 206 shows last year, he’s already set to perform at least 140 concerts this year-all of them on bigger and better stages in front of more and more fans. Bentley began the new year with three weeks of overseas concerts in the England, Ireland and Scotland, where the crowds ate up his forceful blend of country tradition and contemporary themes.
“They love country music over there, and that’s we gave them,” Bentley says. “It was great to get that kind of over-the-top reaction playing in other countries. It thrilled us to see that kind of enthusiasm for our music.”
Back in the United States, the Phoenix native drew a record 7,000-plus fans in Nacogdoches, Texas, surpassing the previous high set by Country Music Hall of Fame member Willie Nelson. Similarly, he set a new attendance record in Corinth, Miss and is expected to sell out all 6,000 seats.
As announced, the quick-witted singer is calling his headlining tour the “Platinum and Porcelain” tour, because both of his albums, 2004’s self-titled debut and 2005’s instant classic Modern Day Drifter, are now million-sellers, and because his success has taken him from the less-than-sanitary beginnings of nightclub bathrooms and fairground porta-potties to the superior plumbing of top arenas-something his band and crew are thankful for. Joining him on tour will be such opening acts as Miranda Lambert, Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, the Randy Rogers Band and Wade Bowen.
Although Bentley is fast with a joke about his rising stardom, he’s dead serious about using his status to deliver better shows to fans. The “Platinum and Porcelain” Tour features a bigger and more technically advanced stage, with better lighting, some extra crew members, and a new fifty-three-foot semi-truck to haul all of these new developments. The truck replaces the gargantuan trailer Bentley lugged across all of the 148,000 miles he traveled in 2005. He’s not ditching the trailer, though; to Bentley’s delight, it will now cart around a few Harley Davidson motorcycles so the singer can get back to cruising around each city before a gig to get a feel for the local community.
One thing remains the same: The glowing reviews continue to pour in for Bentley’s work and his knack for exciting the fans. “The bulls may have been bad, but Dierks Bentley proved he was the baddest boy at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo on Friday night before a sellout crowd of 16,500,” wrote the San Antonio News-Express’s respected veteran critic, John Goodspeed.
Meanwhile, he recently took time to celebrate No.1 parties at ASCAP and BMI for him and co-writer Brett Beavers for “Come A Little Closer,” which spent three weeks at No. 1. The hit single capped an unforgettable 2005 for Bentley, which included platinum designations for both of his albums and two more massive hits, both “Lot A Leavin’ Left to Do” and “Come A Little Closer.”
The previous year also included his cherished spot on the George Strait tour; gaining a prestigious invitation to join the roster of the Grand Ole Opry, where he’s now the youngest current member; appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Today Show (twice!), Good Morning America, Fox & Friends and other top TV programs. He was featured in spreads in such leading magazines as People, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone and USA Today. In a sign of his broad appeal, he was the focus of a cover story in mainstream Country Weekly and featured in the alternative-leaning No Depression. Another moment he’ll never forget, Bentley recorded a duet with one of his idols, George Jones.
Settle for a slowdown? Hah. This is what the fast track to superstardom looks like.
FEBRUARY
10 Corinth, MS-Crossroads Arena with Miranda Lambert
11 Cincinnati, OH-Cincinnati Gardens with Miranda Lambert
18 Milwaukee, WI-Eagles Ballroom with Jamey Johnson
23 Manhattan, KS-Bramlage Coliseum with Shooter Jennings
24 St. Joseph, MO-Civic Center Arena with Shooter Jennings
25 Springfield, MO-Shrine Mosque with Shooter Jennings
MARCH
03 Rochester, NY-Gordon Fieldhouse with Shooter Jennings
04 Atlantic city, NJ-House of Blues with Shooter Jennings
16 Syracuse, NY-Landmark Theatre with Jamey Johnson
17 Buffalo, NY-Statler Golden Ballroom with Jamey Johnson
18 Poughkeepsie, NY-Mid-Hudson Civic Center with Jamey Johnson
Contact:
Dixie Weathersby
Capitol Records Nashville
615-269-2000
Dixie.weathersby@emimusic.com
Contact:
Mary Hilliard Harrington
The Greenroom
(615) 327-3887
maryhilliard@thegreenroompr.com