Dierks Bentley is sitting at No. 2 on the country charts with his latest hit, “5-1-5-0,” and you can thank Van Halen for the idea behind the song. “I was at a birthday party, a 13-year-old birthday party, for this friend of mine, and he had an electric guitar and I didn’t have an electric guitar…Went back to his room and used power cords and listened to Van Halen,” recalls Dierks. “I just immediately dropped everything, and he let me borrow one of his Hondo guitars and Cray amplifier and that’s all I really listened to for a while was that stuff. And they had an album called 51-50 and the album cover, or at least the t-shirts and stuff were all the guys in strait-jackets, and I kind of dug around and found out that was a police code for ‘crazy person.’” 

Dierks has been tapped to perform at the second annual Johnny Cash Music Festival in Jonesboro, Arkansas October 5th. Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash and The Civil Wars are also scheduled to perform.

Dierks is set to take his “crazy train” to Davenport, Iowa on July 20th. 

AUDIO: Dierks Bentley talks about learning about the code “5-1-5-0,” and then writing his latest hit. 

Dierks (5-1-5-0) OC: …blown up. 1:09

“I was at a birthday party, a 13-year-old birthday party, for this friend of mine and he had an electric guitar and I didn’t have an electric guitar. Music had always been something I had kind of listened to and had never really participated in. Went back to his room and used power cords and listened to Van Halen. I just immediately dropped everything, and he let me borrow one of his Hondo guitars and Cray amplifier and that’s all I really listened to for a while was that stuff. And they had an album called 51-50 and the album cover, you know, or at least the t-shirts and stuff were all the guys in strait-jackets, and I kind of dug around and found out that was a police code for ‘crazy person.’ And one of my songs that I wrote by myself called ‘Country & Cold Cans.’ I had a line in there when I was in the studio called, I was like ‘Are y’all with me? Let’s get 51-50.’ And I told Jim [Beavers] about that, and he asked what 51-50 is and I told him. And the next day I saw him at the gym and he was saying ‘5-1-5-0, somebody call the po-po.’ So he came up with that line, and I thought it was just the stupidest thing I’d heard in my life but every time I’d see him, he’d sing that. He’d be like ‘Man, my kids can’t keep that out of their heads, it stuck. We got to write it.’ And so one day we were writing and we were stuck, and I was like ‘Alright, let’s pull out 5-1-5-0,’ and we wrote it, and it just kind of caught on. And Capitol picked it as a single so it’s doing pretty good so far; it’s kind of blown up.”

In Episode 72 of DBTV, we catch up with Dierks Bentley and the crew as they trek from Canada to a show in St. Louis that ended far too soon. We’ll be back St. Louis!

In this week’s Urban Chat video, Keith Urban checks in and shares a beautiful sunset!

Lady Antebellum‘s Charles, Dave and Hillary have had an amazing few days in Dublin, Ireland. And when you are in a foreign city there is nothing better than enjoying the traditional and local fare. Lady A did as the Romans, or Irish, did and enjoyed the classic Guinness beer on stage during their show at the historical Olympia Theatre. Watch below and let us know if you’ve ever tried a Guinness beer in Ireland, or somewhere else!

Luke Bryan is set to perform during Good Morning America’s “Summer Concert Series” on Friday (July 13th). Now in its fourth year, the series features music’s biggest names, with performances held in New York City’s Central Park. Fans can catch Luke’s performance between 7:00-9:00am on ABC.

“I have a big smile on my face every time I talk about being on Good Morning America’s Summer Concert Series,” says Luke. “Life’s good. To be a kid from Leesburg, Georgia, and to now be at the point in my career where I’m performing on Good Morning America in the heart of New York City at one of the most recognizable places in the world makes me super excited. It’s gonna be fun.”

The concert is free and open to the public. Viewers interested in joining “GMA” in Central Park are encouraged to arrive at Rumsey Playfield via the 72nd street entrance on Fifth Avenue at 6:00am when the park opens. For more information on how to attend, click on the “GMA” web site at gmaconcerts.com.

Luke just came off of a two-week run at the top of the charts with “Drunk on You” from his platinum-certified tailgates & tanlines album. He’s getting ready to release his next single from the same album in the coming weeks.

AUDIO: Luke Bryan explains what he likes to do when he’s in the Big Apple.

Luke Bryan (GMA-NYC) OC: …it’s fun. :30

“With me, New York City’s just about kinda getting out there and…trying to find a great restaurant, and it seems like I’m always around Times Square and getting out there and see a little bit of that and seeing Central Park and taking a little bit of that in. I’ve yet to do the World Trade Center location…I’ve never really had time to do tourist-y stuff. It’s, I’m typically there doing business and media stuff, but I love being in the city, and it’s fun.”

Jon Pardi goes skeet shooting in the third installment of his webisode, ‘My Name is Jon.’

Darius Rucker has been putting the finishing touches on his upcoming third album for Capitol Records Nashville. He revealed on Friday night after his appearance at the Grand Ole Opry performance, that one of the new songs is “Wagon Wheel,” originally recorded by Old Crow Medicine Show. He was invited by the group to perform the song with them on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

On the tune, he enlisted the help of his tourmates Lady Antebellum to sing backup on the tune. “We cut it, and after we finished it, it was great,” says Darius. “And then so [producer] Frank [Rogers] and I were talking about what we’re gonna do, and I was like, ‘You know, I’m on tour with Lady A. Let’s see if they’ll sing on the backgrounds.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, ask ‘em.’ And they loved the song and came in and did it, and that song went from being…I cut it to put it as the last song on my record, to end the record that way, and when they were done, I was like, ‘Man, it’ll probably be second, and [laughs] if it’s the first single, I’m OK with that too.’”

Grammy Award winner Keith Urban graces the cover of American Airlines’ American Way Magazine this month, to give travelers across the globe his perspective on ‘one of our country’s leading arts and entertainment cities’, his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. A longtime supporter of countless Nashville-based charities, citywide initiatives and of some of Nashville’s best-loved institutions, Urban came to Nashville in 1992 to pursue his musical career. 

He has played an integral role in the preservation of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and has consistently lent his support for citywide initiatives for the betterment of Nashville and its population. 

In American Way’s cover story, Urban dishes on some of his favorite down home eats, sings his praises of some of his favorite places to go for live music and tells what makes Nashville special to him. 

Favorite Eats: “I loved going to the meat-and-three joints, for funky, earthy food,” says Urban. “A lot of those are still around like Brown’s Diner, Rotier’s Restaurant and Jacks Bar-B-Que. (So) if you want something that’s unique to Nashville, those are some of the places to go.’ 

Favorite Live Music Hotspots: “A lot of the places that I went early on to hear live music are still there!” says Urban. He points to places like 12^th and Porter and the Exit/In, which have been Nashville staples for more than 25 years. 

Why Nashville: ‘This is a real family-oriented place,” says Urban. There’s a lot of focus on family, which suits us perfectly.” 

Go to http://www.americanwaymag.com/travel_destinations and click on “an old star shines”.