It's Frederick Dierks Bentley, but my whole family goes by their middle name - my sister, my brother. So from day one, I've always been called Dierks.

It was just the two of us; no family. It was a great time.

When you go to the Opry for a show or hear it on the radio, you get the whole circle of country music.

Love always had my number. I could never patch a breakup together with whiskey and a one-night stand. I took them real hard.

The transformation that happens when a young artist goes on the road - you put the acoustic guitar down and start to play the electric a little louder - it gets a little bit ragged.

There should be a whole book written about that one word: country. What does that mean, country? It's such a huge umbrella. I would hope that what makes it country is that it all starts with a song. The story being told in three and a half minutes that is not being told on another station.