On Saturday, October 3rd, Dierks Bentley celebrated his 15th year as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
The show kicked off the Opry’s 95th month-long birthday celebration and the first concert with a limited in-venue audience since the pandemic. Bentley sang his No. 1 hit “Burning Man,” Faron Young’s “Going Steady,” and concluded the night with “Will the Circle be Unbroken” alongside Terri Clark, Vince Gill and Lorrie Morgan, a song fitting for the occasion, as it was Opry’s 4,944th consecutive Saturday night show.
Bentley first made his Opry debut in 2003 where he performed his first hit “What Was I Thinking” before the Osborne Brothers, the first band he ever saw live at the Opry. He was later invited by Marty Stuart in 2005, when Stuart surprised him at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, to become a member of the coveted institution.
Bentley’s path to becoming an Opry member is an interesting one. While working across the street from the Opry as a researcher for The Nashville Network, Bentley would often sneak in through the backdoor to watch backstage and chat with the artists. When the Opry’s then-president and general manager, Pete Fisher, found out, Bentley’s access was revoked, somewhat banning him from the Opry. From then on, Bentley made his computer password Fisher’s name to stay focused on his goal of one day becoming a member himself. Bentley’s come a long way since then, and now with 15 years under his belt as an Opry member, we can’t wait to see what the next 15 years have in store for him.
