Country crooner Dierks Bentley tells Vernell Hackett of The Boot that he plans to record a bluegrass album during 2010.

Bentley has a long history of including bluegrass music on his chart-topping releases, and has collaborated several times with The Grascals and other Nashville grassers. He was a fixture on the bluegrass scene in Music City prior to his country career taking off, and even studied bluegrass mandolin with Butch Baldassari.

From The Boot…

“Nashville is my hometown; I’ve been here 15 years, so I know a bunch of the grassers, a lot of the country guys, a lot of songwriters and musicians,” Dierks explains. “Every album I’ve done has a bluegrass song on it, so it’s not a surprise that one day I might make a bluegrass record. It would be a cool thing for me.”

We hope to learn more about this soon.

Big-time country artist Dierks Bentley’s bluegrass roots have been chronicled a number of times on The Bluegras Blog, as has his ongoing support of bluegrass artists and songwriters.

His new CD, Feel That Fire, will be released on February 3, and the last track is a remake of Last Call, written by Ronnie McCoury and originally recorded on his 2000 solo project, Heartbreak Town. The Dierks cut features him in duet with Ronnie along with Alan Bartram on bass, Bryan Sutton on guitar, Randy Kohrs on resonator guitar, Jason Carter on fiddle and Rob McCoury on banjo. Ronnie also plays mandolin.

Dierks has been telling Ronnie for the last several years that one day he was going to record Last Call, and so he has.

GAC has a pre-release Feel That Fire TV special which debuts this evening (1/29) at 10:00 p.m. Ronnie will be part of the show, singing with Bentley on this bluegrass song.

The show will air several more times over this next week, in case you miss tonight’s initial broadcast. All times EST.

• 1/31 – 10:00 p.m.
• 2/1 – 2:00 a.m.
• 2/1 – 11:00 a.m.
• 2/3 – 8:00 p.m.
• 2/4 – 12:00 a.m.

UPDATE 3:00 p.m. – We just heard from Dierks’ people that they are uncertain whether the performance of Last Call made the final cut for the GAC special.

We should also mention that Bryan Sutton plays acoustic guitar on almost every track of Feel That Fire, and plays banjo on several as well.

Country artist Dierks Bentley is gearing up for the release of his new CD, Feel That Fire. As in the past Dierks is showing his love of bluegrass by including some bluegrass on his new recording.

His first, self-titled, CD included personnel like Shad Cobb, Glen Duncan, Terry Eldredge, Randy Kohrs, and Bryan Sutton, among others. The final track on the CD was recorded with the Del McCoury Band.

His second CD, Modern Day Drifter, again included a track recorded with the Del McCoury Band. His third CD, Long Trip Alone, included a track recorded with The Grascals.

Feel That Fire will be released on February 3rd and includes a duet with Ronnie McCoury, Last Call.

It seems Dierks is consistent in his dedication to introducing his country fans to his love of bluegrass. Thanks Dierks!

UPDATE 12:50 p.m. -  Furthering his “bluegrass cred,” Dierks is also quoted in Peter Cooper’s Tennessean piece on the occasion of Butch Baldassari’s death on 1/10.

In October 2007, Dierks Bentley, Mark O’Connor, Ricky Skaggs, Bela Fleck and many others performed a benefit concert at the Blair School.

"Butch really encouraged me, musically," Bentley said at the time. "I took mandolin lessons from him, and he’s full of information."

McCoury Music and High Sierra Music have posted a YouTube video of Dierks Bentley rehearsing his hit song I’ve Got A Lot Of Leaving Left To Do with The Del McCoury Band in preparation for their joint appearance at DelFest next weekend.

The video shows them running through the tune, complete with an extended jam section – where Dierks even trades a few G runs with the Delster himself!