Something funny happened to Dierks Bentley on the way to his CMAs interview with RADIO.COM’s Rob + Holly. He encountered his doppelgänger’s from his side-project Hot Country Knights.
“Wow, you guys look good!” Dierks exclaimed when he met Rob Robby Robertson (AKA Rob) and his sister Roberta (AKA Holly).
Rob told Dierks to tell Doug Douglason (Dierks’ alter-ego in the band) that they are the biggest fans of his and Hot Country Knights. Dierks was happy to oblige, and gave an update on what Doug’s been up to.
“I’m doing some remodeling on my house and I got a porta-potty out there, which has been great for Doug. He’s been sleeping in there, he’s been taking his showers in there. It’s hot here in Tennessee so he uses it as a sauna in the middle of the day too, it’s a nice spot for him.”
Hot Country Knights had a ton of momentum behind them leading up to the release of their debut album The K Is Silent. Despite their plans changing, Dierks said the group is in high spirits. “The Knights are good,” he said. “They lost their gig. When COVID came along it kind of destroyed their album release and their tour. They had big plans to play in enormo-dome’s across the country, but that’s not happening.”
“They probably made COVID happen, the universe couldn’t allow it,” he added with a laugh.
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Here’s the thing about Hot Country Knights. The songs hold up on their own and if you had no idea they were a spoof band, you could easily mistake their music as Dierks’ work. “I told the songwriters who I wrote ‘Picked Her Up In A Pickup Truck’ with, ‘if it wasn’t for the Knights I would have put this out as my own single for me,’” he said. “I’m sure they’re like, ‘wish you had!’” He joked.
Dierks isn’t taking the airplay the Knights are getting on the radio lightly. “I really appreciate everyone in Country radio for even playing the Knights,” he said. “It’s hard, there’s so few lanes available for new artists. There’s so many people trying to do this and get on the radio. For me to have a separate band and for it to get put out on radio and get the airplay it got is awesome.”
“Doing this you’re always trying to recreate that first time feeling, at least that’s what I’m striving for with every album,” he added.
“Every show I play I try to walk out on there stage and recall what it feels like for the first time you ever stepped out on stage with your guitar. Certainly making this album, signing a record deal again, it’s fun. You can’t make that stuff up, the energy was real and the experience was truly authentic and rewarding.”
Dierks also gave us a sneak peek at what we can expect during his 2020 CMA Awards performance. “It’s myself and [Jason] Aldean, Brothers Osborne, Ashley McBryde all paying tribute to the one and only Charlie Daniels. I think the fact the CMAs are putting that song first says a lot about the respect we all feel for Charlie Daniels.”
Dierks says he’s “honored to be a part of it,” but admitted “the more I talk about it the more nervous I get because it’s a big moment. I’m kicking it off with the ‘Long Haired Country Boy’ so I don’t want to mess up those guitar licks.”
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