Dierks Bentley (Seven Peaks 2nd year) 1 OC: …people. :45
“This festival is, the word special gets overused, but it is really special. One of the ways you can tell a festival is really good is when the artists want to come back and play it again. Last year, Miranda Lambert, she was supposed to fly off, but she actually stayed an extra day because she was having so much fun being there and everyone who was there last year wanted to come out again. You’re talking about year two. I can’t announce who’s coming, but the festival is early on, so I can’t pay some of these huge prices that some of these guys get, but I have some friends coming out [this year] that are actually doing it for a reduced rate because they just want to be there. They’re like, ‘Man! I’ll do whatever it takes. I just want to be there. It sounds like a vacation. It sounds so fun.’ So, that’s a big tell. The fact that we had fans from 49 states says a lot. This year is gonna be crazy attendance-wise, because I know every person is going to tell at least one or two people to come with ’em.”

Dierks Bentley (Seven Peaks 2nd year lineup) OC: …a lot of fun. 1:21
“So, this year, what makes our festival unique I think is, I love three types of music. I love commercial country music, which I do, I love ‘90s country music, and I love the bluegrass, acoustic, red-dirt kind of scene, and I hate to toss it all into one thing, that different side. So, we start off with ‘90s country night, and this year, Deana Carter is starting off. ‘Strawberry Wine’ had a big influence on my life and I love that song. I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard it. Tracy Lawrence is going to be there, unbelievable. Diamond Rio and Travis Tritt. My band and I will be on the side of the stage for every one of those performances, like leaning all the way in. And of course, the Hot Country Knights are headlining because we get to, it’s my festival. I don’t know how we’re going to go on after Travis Tritt, hopefully he will have left by then or won’t be watching, because I don’t know if we can do our ‘90s thing with these guys watching us. Although last year, Sawyer Brown, they loved it. They wore Hot Country Knights T-shirts on their set. And the next night, Saturday night, is headlined by Luke Bryan, which is great. And Maren Morris, which we’ve collaborated a bunch together and I love her to death. Mitchell Tenpenny’s there, Ryan Hurd, and a new artist Caylee Hammack who I’m just a huge fan of. And then Sunday it’s us with Jon Pardi, Tenille Townes. She’s like my favorite singer at all right now. She’s so good and such a great hang. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band which’ll be killer.. And then we have a whole another Whiskey Row stage, which is gonna be another… it’s all for me, really. It’s just people I love listening to. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”