Dressed For Dierks
By Kelly Jasper
More than one Dierks Bentley fan shared Molly Anderson’s flash of inspiration.
She slipped her hair into pigtails and pulled on a little white tank top before the county singer’s concert at the Rockingham County Fair Thursday night.
“You know, like the song,” says the 16-year-old from Harrisonburg.
Oh, yeah.
She and her friends launch into the chorus of Bentley’s first hit single, “What Was I Thinkin’”: “Cuz’ I was thinking ’bout a little white tank top sitting right there in the middle by me, I was thinking about a long kiss, Man, just gotta get goin’ where the night might lead.”
The country star would take the stage in a few minutes. The girls dashed to the front of the grandstand with hordes of other fans.
They raced by Brandi Craig, in a white tank top of her own, who won front-row seats to see the country star perform.
She and her boyfriend, Derrick Tabor, met Bentley, a 31-year-old singer and songwriter from Phoenix, before the show.
“I asked him for a favor,” Craig, 24, of Staunton says with a laugh. She pats her pregnant belly, which Bentley signed just moments before. He wrote a message to her little one, too.
“I’m never going to wash this shirt again,” she jokes. “I didn’t have anywhere else for him to sign and I just had to have an autograph.”
Craig says she and Tabor, 25, have been serious fans since Bentley’s first self-titled album in 2003. He’s since released two others, most recently “Long Trip Alone” in 2006.
Being such big fans, might she name the new baby “Dierks”?
Not a chance, Craig says. She’s due to have a baby girl in January; but at least little Birnley Nicole will have a jump on good music, Craig said.
“It’s amazing that someone this big has come to the fair,” she said.
Fair promoters say attendance Thursday night reflected Bentley’s star status.
“We’re selling tickets like crazy,” said the Rockingham County Fair Association’s president, Ken Hawkins, who looked on as Bentley signed autographs before the show. “It should be a sellout, definitely.”
Some fans traveled hours to see Bentley. Hunter Turner, 14, and his sister, Sundae, 23, drove from West Virginia.
“She’s a big fan,” said Turner, who splurged about $50 on Bentley T-shirts before the show. “My sister played him in the car the whole way here. It’ll be worth the drive, though.”
By sundown, the grandstand was full. Between the updated bleachers and reserved floor seats, the arena seats 6,500. Most rose to their feet in the reserved seating once Bentley bounced on stage.
Anderson and her friends shrieked.
“Maybe he’ll throw a guitar pick at us,” said Katie Simmons, 16, of Harrisonburg.
“Maybe he’ll come into the audience,” said Stephanie Delaney, also 16 of Harrisonburg.
“Whatever he does,” Anderson says, “it’s hot.”
Contact Kelly Jasper at 574-6273 or kjasper@dnronline.com
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