Dierks Bentley to Headline Bluegrass Tribute at Country Music Hall of Fame
Dierks Bentley, whose 2010 LP, Up on the Ridge, paid homage to the bluegrass that influenced him as a young, aspiring musician, will headline an upcoming concert paying tribute to Ralph and Carter Stanley — two of that genre’s most important architects.
On Wednesday, October 24th, at 7:30 p.m, Bentley will take the stage at the Country Music Hall of Fame’s CMA Theater in downtown Nashville, joined by a stellar lineup including Dan Auerbach, the Gibson Brothers, Sierra Hull with Justin Moses, Ralph Stanley II and the Travelin’ McCourys for “Tribute to Ralph & Carter Stanley,” presented in support of the museum’s recently opened exhibition, Ralph Stanley: Voice from on High, which spotlights the bluegrass icon who performed with his brother for 20 years, until Carter Stanley’s death in 1966.
“Dr. Ralph,” as he became affectionately known, having earned an honorary doctorate from Tennessee’s Lincoln Memorial University, would lead his band, the Clinch Mountain Boys, for the next 50 years, until his death in 2016 at age 89. His 2000 performance of the stirring “O Death,” for the soundtrack of the film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, earned Stanley a Grammy and exposed his Appalachian-rooted music to an entirely new audience. Bentley was so deeply influenced by bluegrass music when he first moved from Arizona to Nashville that he spent hours observing and playing music at Music City’s bluegrass mecca, the world-famous Station Inn, and would even mow the grass around the tiny concrete building.
Tickets for the concert go on sale Friday, September 14th at 10 a.m. CDT and can be purchased at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum website.