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Artist
Gary Bennett
12+ albums
countryAll
about
Gary Bennett co-fronted and was a founding member of the critically acclaimed country music band BR549, who recorded five well-received albums (four with Arista and one with Sony), received three Grammy nominations and was hailed by music industry trade magazine Billboard as having single-handedly revived the soul of country music in Nashville. During Gary's tenure, the band sold over 500,000 albums and toured the world, headlining shows as well as opening for such artists as Bob Dylan, George Jones, Merle Haggard, the Black Crowes and Brian Setzer. BR549 was also voted "Best Country Group" in 1996 by Rolling Stone magazine. Bennett was born October 9, 1964 in Las Vegas, Nevada to country music loving parents. After living in Conroe, Texas for the first 5 years of his life, and a year more in southern California, the family settled in the small Northwest-logging town of Cougar, Washington, which is nestled at the foot of Mt. St. Helens. By age 16, Gary was playing bass for a gospel band and began to get a taste of the musician's life on the road. After high school and a series of logging jobs, Bennett began performing as a solo act in hometown bars every weekend, playing the traditional country songs he had learned as a boy from his parent's record collection, along with a growing repertoire of original songs. In 1993, he loaded his pickup truck and headed for Nashville. Unfortunately, he arrived at a time when "real country music" had been all but forgotten. After attendi
