Bentley, Hiatt, Urban go Front and Center

Wednesday, September 24, 2014 – The line-up for the new season of public television's concert series "Front and Center" includes its first country performances from the likes of Dierks Bentley and Lady Antebellum.

Keith Urban, John Hiatt, Counting Crows, The Fray, John Hiatt, Paul Rodgers, Richie Sambora, Joe Satriani and Richard Thompson all appear.

"This season could be our best," said Executive Producer Don Maggi. "We're featuring some of the finest names in pop, rock and country music, who have collectively sold millions of albums, won numerous awards and are easily some of the best live entertainers in the business."

The 10 shows will begin feeding to public television stations starting Sept. 30.

The line-up is:
Counting Crows (Sept. 30)
John Hiatt (Oct. 7)
Dierks Bentley (Oct. 14)
Joe Satriani (Oct. 21)
Lady Antebellum (Oct. 28)
Keith Urban (Nov. 4)
Paul Rodgers (Nov. 11)
The Fray (Nov. 18)
Richard Thompson (Nov. 25)
Richie Sambora (Dec. 2)

"The core of country music is its songs, and the CMA established the CMA Songwriters Series 10 years ago to recognize a really important part of our genre, the songwriters," said Bentley. "We don't typically take the time to thank the songwriters, so collaborating with the CMA and Front and Center was the perfect place - a night with five guys on stools sharing stories, songs and whiskey."

All episodes of Front and Center are directed by Pierre and Francois Lamoureux of FogoLabs.

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CD reviews for Dierks Bentley

Black

Dierks Bentley seems intent on expanding his musical boundaries, but he may have overreached too much in eschewing where he came from. That most evident by the dominating textured beats. Producer Ross Copperman and Bentley seem hell bent on injecting odd meters and sounds, sharp detours from past efforts. Unfortunately, the atmospheric beats muddy up the vocal delivery on "Freedom," a song that stretches far too long at almost four minutes. Bentley also channels U2 with its »»»

Riser

Change was in store for Dierks Bentley when it came to recording his seventh album, "Riser." On the personal front, he lost his father and added to his family, clearly affecting the subject matter of his latest. On the musical front, he traded long-time producer Brett Beavers, producer of every disc except "Up on the Ridge," for Ross Copperman, who has enjoyed more success as a writer, including several previous tracks for Bentley. Bentley embraces current trends in country »»»

Up on the Ridge

Dierks Bentley takes a left, turn, sort of, on his fifth studio disc. Bentley has built a solid reputation as a country artist with a slew of hits and catchy songs with edge. But here, Bentley goes bluegrass or at least 12 songs steeped in that sound. This is nothing new for Bentley, who previously has recorded bluegrass songs. Much to his credit, Bentley does not come off as a dilettante, but, instead, someone who feels comfortable with the music from the lead-off title track to the closing sad »»»

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