Overview: Red-hot country performer – and one-time liquid waste pumper – Dierks Bentley will rock the house in Louisville
How’s this for the hottest ticket in town: The Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International and Dierks Bentley.
The can’t miss trade show for environmental services professionals collides with the can’t miss country music performer of the past year. When Bentley takes the stage at Louisville’s Freedom Hall March 5 to entertain Expo attendees, he will have just learned the fate of his three nominations from the 2010 Grammy Awards.
Bentley has had numerous No.1 hits on the country charts since his 2003 debut album, but last year’s bluegrass-influenced record, Up On The Ridge, catapulted his career to a new level. Recording with an ensemble of the hottest new stars – Punch Brothers, Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson – Bentley produced the contemporary country music that built his career, but using the acoustic instrumentation that fueled his love of country music in the first place.
“I had a blast making this record. It was the most fun I’ve really ever had making a record. Bluegrass music is what really first got me turned on to country,” Bentley said in an interview with Gas, Oil & Mining Contractor. “I don’t think I’m a traditionalist. I love country music and putting my own stamp on it. And using (acoustic) instruments is a big part of the formula; I want to push the boundaries of what you can do with them.”
A PUMPING PAST
While Bentley’s music is sure to be a big hit at the Saturday Evening Jam, there’s another reason Expo attendees will enjoy the down-to-earth, 35-year-old performer: He’s worked in environmental services as a liquid waste pumper. One of the many jobs Bentley had before landing a contract in Music City was pumping out holding tanks on houseboats at Lake Powell in his home state of Arizona.
“I loved the lake and I loved being up there,” Bentley explained. “In the mornings, I’d go down and show the customers how to drive the boats, 35- to 60-foot houseboats. When the boats came back, we’d clean them from top to bottom, scrub the roofs, the decks, pump out the tanks, and get them ready to go the next morning.”
Boats typically had 250-gallon holding tanks, and that waste was pumped through a pipe system installed at the marina, Bentley recalled. Careful evacuation of the tanks and constant cleaning on the boats is vital because Lake Powell provides a freshwater supply for an expansive desert territory in the Southwest.
Bentley says he’s always enjoyed physical labor (he also built decks for a time and retrieved golf balls at a driving range) and has an appreciation for hard work. The jobs he didn’t like were in Nashville offices while he paid his dues in the music business.
“I poured coffee all over this town and worked in every building in Nashville before I got a publishing deal,” he recalled. “I like physical labor, but emotionally being in Nashville and working day jobs while trying to get a record deal was the toughest.”
