Not our mayor, but that would have been cool, huh?
A day after being nominated for four Grammy Awards, Dierks Bentley received another honor when he was named honorary mayor for the day in Glen Falls, N.Y.
Dierks received the honor at a press conference before his concert at the Glens Falls Civic Center, the Post-Star reports. He listened attentively as Mayor Roy Akins read a lengthy proclamation listing various milestones in his life and career. At one point, he interrupted the mayor and quipped, "My life's story played out before me. Is this a proclamation or a funeral?
"Believe me, I'll be pulling this out (the proclamation) on stage tonight and using this in some way with the show," Dierks told Mayor Akins. "This is an amazing thing."
Dierks offered to switch places with the real mayor at the city's holiday tree lighting in City Park later on Friday evening if Akins would stand in for him at a pre-concert reception. "I'll tell you what," he said, "I'll go plug the tree in and you can do the 100 person meet-and-greet I've got lined up for tonight."
After the proclamation, Dierks spoke about how artists such as Hank Williams Jr. influenced his musical style. "You know I was about 17 years old and I was listening to all kinds of different music," he said. "His [Williams] music, there's a lot of loud guitars, but it's still country. It kind of mixes country and rock, and it kind of mixes all the things I love about music."
Hank Jr.'s songs sparked an interest in other veteran artists. "From Hank Jr., I kind of discovered Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, and kind of looked backwards instead of going forward," Dierks said. "And I still do. I was up till about five o'clock in the morning last night listening to Merle Haggard."