Dierks Bentley: Dierks Bentley, aka the Modern Day Drifter, struck a cord with guys everywhere with his singles about leavin', lovin' and heartache. For 2011, Dierks Bentley tour dates are scheduled periodically and he is gearing up to release his sixth album in less than a decade.

A native of Phoenix, Arizona; Bentley moved to the East Coast to attend the University of Vermont. He lasted a year before transferring to Vanderbilt University in Nashville and has been working in the music industry every since. He got his start as a researcher on the Nashville Network (TNN) before being picked up by Capitol Records. He released his self-titled album in 2003 and it featured the #1 hit single "What Was I Thinkin'". For his debut, he won the Top New Artist Award at the 2004 Academy of Country Music Awards and the Horizon Award at the 2005 Country Music Association Awards.

He followed up with Modern Day Drifter in 2005. The sophomore album was even more successful and featured two #1 singles including "Settle for a Slowdown" and "Come a Little Closer". His country heartbreaker image was solidified with the single "Lot of Leavin' Left to Do". After the album's success, Bentley was invited to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Dierks Bentley concert dates were scheduled on the High Times & Hangovers Tour throughout 2005.

He released his third album Long Trip Alone in 2006, another success it contained the #1 singles "Every Mile a Memory" and "Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)". In support, Dierks Bentley tour dates included his first headlining outing on the Free and Easy Summer Tour. At one of the stops, he recorded a live DVD entitled "Live and Loud at the Filmore" in Colorado. In 2008, he had enough material to cut a Greatest Hits album and he joined Luke Bryan and Bucky Covington on the Throttle Wide Open Tour.

In 2009, Bentley released Feel That Fire; the album's title track and the single "Sideways" became his sixth and seventh #1 singles on the charts. Dierks Bentley concert dates included a top billed spot on the Paisley Park Tour with Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker. He cut his latest disc Up On the Ridge in 2010 and was subsequently nominated for three Grammy awards at the 2011 ceremonies. Currently, Dierks is in the studio finishing up his sixth studio album Diamonds. It is scheduled for a late 2011 release; Until then, you will have to check out the few remaining dates left on the Dierks Bentley concert schedule. Use Eventful as your source for Dierks Bentley tour dates and venue information.

Kip Moore: Singer-songwriter Kip Moore combines a raw and rustic voice with compelling lyrics of honesty to create a unique sound that’s simultaneously hypnotic and edgy. His voice is weathered by life’s detours and disappointments and strengthened by his dreams and determination. His music is infused with relentless intensity, both of passion and frustration.

The boy who grew up daydreaming about life outside of the small town of Tifton, Ga., became a man who has been continually inspired by Bruce Springsteen and Kris Kristofferson to paint vivid portraits with his lyrics.

His music powerfully captures some of the contradictions that he grapples with personally. Although he’s from a large family and enjoys musical collaborations and performing onstage, he’s an introvert who is often more comfortable being alone. Despite its edge, his music remains desperately optimistic.

During high school, he secretly began playing his brother’s guitar because he was intimidated by the talent of his mother and older brother. “I would play when nobody was around, just figuring out stuff, watching his hands and trying to do the same thing.”

Kip moved to Hawaii on a whim with just a backpack, a surfboard and a friend. They slept on an airport bench the first night and then lucked into a hut that was $50 a month. They would walk or hitchhike the mile to the beach daily. After six months of this tropical paradise, Kip thought he had found his permanent home until his friend encouraged him to pursue songwriting as a living.

He drove to Nashville on Jan. 1, 2004 in an old black Nissan truck that contained one bag and his guitar. He immersed himself in the songwriting community, observing songwriters’ rounds for two years and honing his craft before gaining the confidence to join in. After four years of performing locally, he caught the attention of Creative Artist Agency’s Mark Dennis, who called Universal Music Group Nashville’s Joe Fisher. Not only did Joe’s encounter lead to his record deal with MCA Nashville, but it also brought about his introduction to songwriter Brett James, who produced Kip’s debut album.

He also found important relationships with songwriters Dan Couch, Scott Steppakoff, Westin Davis and Kiefer Thompson, two of whom didn’t have publishing deals when he began writing with them.

And different his debut project is, as evidenced by the album’s first single, “Mary Was the Marrying Kind,” the story of the one who got away. The dreamy and spell-binding song is the true story of one of Kip’s friends, who returned to his hometown after about six years and saw the once tall, lanky girl who had since come into her own and become a model.

Justin Moore: Justin Moore combines southern rock and backwoods lyrics to satisfy country fans from the boondocks to the big city. The country boy just finished recording his sophomore album and has concert dates scheduled throughout 2011. Don't miss a date on the Justin Moore concert schedule 2011; Use Eventful as your source for Justin Moore tour dates and concert tour information.

The Poyen, Arkansas native got his start in Nashville fresh out of high school. Moore joined his uncle in a Southern rock band and moved with the group to the Country Music capital. After years of concert performances and hard work, Moore was signed to a solo deal with the Valory Music Group. In 2008, Moore released his debut single, "Back That Thing Up", which peaked in the Top 40 of country radio. Moore expanded his popularity through social networking and constant touring while crafting his debut album. He released a digital EP, The "You Asked For IT" EP, before releasing his self-titled debut which was a top ten hit for the aspiring country star. The lead-off single, "Small Town USA", became a #1 country hit for the country rocker in 2010. The album's second single, "Backwoods", was another top ten single from the album.

Justin Moore tour dates were booked periodically in support of his debut album and he headed back to the studio to record his sophomore album. As an homage to the Willie Nelsons and Merle Haggards that preceded, Moore titled his second disc, Outlaws Like Me, which hit stores in June, 2011. The lead-off single, "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away," is receiving rotation on country radio and has so far peaked at #5 on the country singles charts. To promote this effort, Justin Moore's concert schedule has him booked across the United States throughout 2011. Don't miss a date on the Justin Moore concert schedule 2011. Use Eventful as your source for Justin Moore tour dates and tour information.

Jerrod Niemann: Jerrod Niemann is not a typical country artist, and the audacious, groundbreaking Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury is a far cry from a typical country album. With the first track, which is a humorously hyperbolic movie trailer, and the attention-grabbing lyrics of the opening song, “They Should Have Named You Cocaine,” listeners quickly realize they’re in for an extraordinary ride. Niemann’s debut for Sea Gayle/Arista Nashville includes up-tempo cuts, heartache balladry, wicked wordplay and a couple of cool covers, all woven together with short comedic interludes. The 20 tracks constitute a progressive, album-length voyage into utterly unique territory in the country music landscape. The lead single, “Lover, Lover,” is a groove-oriented, handclap-fueled Top 15 smash that features nine vocal parts, all recorded by Niemann himself. “My original plan was to just sing the lead vocal part,” Niemann explains. “I was going to get Jamey Johnson, Randy Houser, Chris Young and a bunch of my friends to each sing a part. But I didn’t have a record deal, and I realized that getting permission for all of them would have been torturous, so my co-producer, Dave Brainard, suggested that I try singing all the parts. I sang eight out of nine parts the first night. The only part I didn’t have was that low bass part. I just couldn’t hit those notes. So Dave and I went down to the Tin Roof in Nashville, and in the name of country music, we properly medicated the vocal cords. When I woke up the next morning, I sounded like a mix between Richard Sterban from the Oak Ridge Boys and that cartoon Grape Ape.” Listeners might get the catchy chorus of “Lover, Lover” permanently stuck in their heads — which is exactly what happened to Niemann when he heard the original version of the song, written by Dan Pritzker of the rock band Sonia Dada, and titled “You Don’t Treat Me No Good.” “When I first heard that song, I was in a community swimming pool in Liberal, Kansas, in 1993,” Niemann recalls. I’ve always loved that song, and I associate it with my childhood. I took it into the studio, played it for Dave [Brainard], and literally five minutes later we were recording it, just on a whim.” Niemann wrote or co-wrote ten of the album’s dozen songs. His co-writers on “They Should Have Named You Cocaine” were his buddies Jamey Johnson and Dallas Davidson. This track’s unusual production merges traditional, jazzy sounds with a space-age theremin (inspired by the Beach Boys) and just a touch of the Electric Light Orchestra hit “Strange Magic.” Niemann shows his sensitive side with “What Do You Want,” the emotional centerpiece of the album. “That was the first time I had ever written a song truly from the heart,” Niemann admits. “I wasn’t trying to write a hit song. I just wanted to get it out of my system. I was missing an ex-girlfriend, and I would just start the process of getting over her, and then I’d hear from her. So that’s how that song came about.” Niemann’s compositions reflect an adherence to the adage “Write what you know.” He calls “Old School New Again” his “soapbox” number because it comments on the machinations of the music industry. The song chronicles the hopes of a struggling musician, as Niemann sings, “I know times, they change / So I ain’t sayin’ we need to go back to Nudie suits, rhinestones and fringe / I just wanna be proud of what I’m playin’ / And sing a little Lefty now and then.” He returns to the music-industry theme with the lighthearted barroom anthem “One More Drinkin’ Song.” The track is preceded by “A Concerned Fan,” a tongue-in-cheek skit addressing the notion of using demographic data as the basis for writing a country song. The solo composition “For Everclear” is the smile-inducing tale of a hard-partying college student who winds up in bed with his instructor. A boisterous cover of Robert Earl Keen’s “The Buckin’ Song” features the kind of sly wordplay that Niemann has made a trademark of his own songwriting. “I didn’t write that song, but I thought it was just offensive enough to put on the album,” he jokes. Puns and wordplay also are showcased in the tropical tune “Down in Mexico” and its accompanying sketch, “Phone Call at 3 A.M.” This Buffettesque track proves that an episode of quasi-drunk-dialing can result in a great country song. Other album highlights include the R&B–flavored scorcher “Come Back to Me,” a poetic rumination on lost love called “Bakersfield,” the honky-tonk rave-up “How Can I Be So Thirsty” (penned with John Anderson and Billy Joe Walker, Jr.) and a dramatic ballad with strings, “I Hope You Get What You Deserve.” With a single spin of the album, it’s obvious that the recording sessions for Judge Jerrod were a blast. Ironically, Niemann’s personal life at the time was in tatters. Although Niemann had experienced triumphs as a songwriter — with his songs being recorded by Garth Brooks, Jamey Johnson, Julie Roberts and Blake Shelton — he yearned to be a performer himself. Things weren’t going well in that regard. He had signed a recording contract, only to see the deal fall apart. Niemann signed another recording contract, but that one also failed to come to fruition. Then his life took a turn for the worse. “I was at rock bottom,” he recalls. “I had horrible depression. I ran off a girl I was dating, and she moved clear to India. I gained 60 pounds, so I looked like the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. I didn’t write a song for almost a year. That’s when I ran into Jamey Johnson, at that point in my life. He said, ‘Man, I can tell you’re not yourself. Why don’t you go cut a record? That’s what I did, and it changed my life.’ And Jamey was right. So I took a year to record the album, and by the end of that process, I had lost every bit of the weight. It’s amazing how doing something that you love can change your inner self and your outer appearance.” After Niemann finished the album, he shared it with the heads of his publishing company, Sea Gayle Music. They wanted to shop it to Arista Nashville, and Niemann agreed, but under one condition: Not a single note on the album could be changed. In a bold move, Arista Nashville signed Niemann and agreed to release the album as is, even keeping the title (with its double entendre) intact. Niemann says, “We called it Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury, but it’s not so much because I’m a judge. Instead, it’s about the idea that everybody is going to judge me and my band for making this album. Whenever you attempt to do anything different or unique, people are going criticize it. But that’s okay. I’ve been made fun of my whole life. Why stop now?” Niemann grew up in Liberal, a tiny town in west Kansas. As a child, his knowledge of music was expanded at the skating rink that his parents owned. “That’s where I got my street cred, as a 7-year-old, rolling in circles, looking dangerous and mysterious on eight wheels of Country & Western thunder,” he recalls with a laugh. “I remember skating to Queen, to Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith doing “Walk This Way,” and to the Oak Ridge Boys’ “Elvira.” After graduating from Liberal High School, Niemann studied music for two years at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. Then he moved to Fort Worth, where he honed his songwriting and learned how to win over tough crowds in bars. He moved to Nashville in 2000. Today, Niemann is ready to become the full-fledged artist he always dreamed of being. “A few years ago, my friends and I were burning up the honky-tonks in Nashville, but now everybody has matured a little bit,” he reflects. “We all realized that we’re representing country music whenever we leave Nashville. We still get rowdy and have fun, but we know where this town came from. We love it and we respect it. We’re doing what we can to ensure that country music fans have music that not only entertains them, but that they can enjoy in any mood.” Niemann feels that he can be a distinct voice in country music, but he realizes he’s standing on the shoulders of giants. “Waylon and Willie are considered hard-core traditionalists now, but they were very innovative back in the day, and they caused a lot of controversy. No one’s ever going to say what they said, or sang what they sang, as well as they did. But I think there’s something unique that I can contribute to the format. If I can make somebody laugh, or get someone who’s never listened to country music to come over and check it out, then I’ve accomplished my goal.”