It’s easy to look at country music superstars and think they must have had an easy life, but that isn’t always the case. These are three country artists who got their start in the music business, doing really menial jobs, before finding success.
Dierks Bentley
Dierks Bentley knew since he was a child that he wanted to be a country artist. Bentley moved from his native Arizona to Nashville in 1994 and got a job at The Nashville Network (TNN), which is now closed.
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TNN was next to the Grand Ole Opry, which is also where CMT was located at the time. Bentley’s job was to research footage of classic country music performances.
”There was a little sheet you could sign on the way out that would put you on the backstage list for the Opry, so I always signed it,” Bentley tells Audacy. “I’d get done with work and be able to walk right down to the Opry — see these great performers.”
Bentley became so enamored with country music and the Grand Ole Opry that he ended up getting banned from his favorite place to watch live music, since he was there so much.
“Pete Fisher, who was running the Opry at the time, he sent an email over to [my work]. … He said, ‘Love Dierks, great guy,’” Bentley remembers. “’But he can’t be over here every weekend. You gotta space it out a little bit.’ So, I kind of got my leash yanked a little bit.”
In 2005, Bentley became a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson moved from his native Georgia to begin his country music career, but it took him a while. Like Bentley, Jackson also got a job at TNN, but Jackson’s job was working in the mail room. Although the job was far from glamorous, it did give Jackson a taste of the music business.
Since Jackson was an employee at TNN, he was able to be part of the audience for the network’s You Can Be a Star TV show. Fortuitously, Jackson was chosen to sing the outro to a commercial. He sang part of George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today”. One of the guest judges was Keith Stegall, who later produced many of Jackson’s records.
Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood’s first job in Nashville was as a receptionist at MCA Records. Fortunately, Yearwood, who went to Belmont University with the goal of becoming a singer, took matters into her own hands. She remains one of the most successful country artists of her era.
“I got a real job, as a receptionist at a record label, and I started figuring out that if I didn’t get aggressive about it, I’d get to be the receptionist forever,” Yearwood remembers. “So I started to network a bit, called some writers that I knew. I got work based on the fact that I showed up on time. I worked cheap; I knew the songs when I got there, and I sounded good, and I did my own harmonies for free. So I was pretty good, cheap labor, and reliable. People would hire you because of those things.”