Dierks Bentley

It's a great time for country music right now. Many artists, like Dierks Bentley, are shunning the overproduced Nashville assembly line production sound and returning to more traditional instrumentation. Bentley's sophomore album is still loaded with pop hooks, but they have more of a warm, 1970s country-rock inspiration.

Bentley is a rugged up-and-comer, cutting his honky-tonk with bluegrass traces from Alison
Krauss and the Del McCoury Band. Sometimes he leaves the girl in the dust ("Lot of Leavin'
Left to Do"), sometimes he brings her along to ride shotgun ("Cab of My Truck") and
sometimes he settles down ("Good Things Happen"). But when she ditches him, he likes his
beer "Domestic, Light and Cold."