Ridley Bent – Artist Profile

Ridley Bent is back with his latest release Wildcard the anticipated follow up of Rabbit on My Wheel showcasing the Western Canada based Country artist’s keen fascination for characters whose life on the straight and narrow rarely lasts past the nearest exit to a short, crooked road.

Ridley Bent continues to weave tales of wisdom and intrigue with titles such as ‘Fill Yer Boots’ about a truck driving card player, and ‘Crooked and Loaded’ written about a shootout with a posse of outlaws. Produced by the John MacArthur Ellis and supported by an all star band of country musics finest Wildcard will take your mind away and get your toes tapping as Ridley Bent does what he does best..!

On Wildcard the 2009 CCMA nominee and 7-time BCCMA winner’s storytelling and songwriting chops are sharper than ever. Although the tales are still as tall as they come, and the characters as large as life or larger, the cast of hard-drinking, fast-driving characters Ridley unleashes on Wildcard tend to be a shade less hell-bent on self-destruction than they are with keeping their lives between the lines and out of the ditch.

Channeling the high-energy performance ethic of artists like Dwight Yoakum and Little Feat, Ridley and his band tear a deep strip off the joint with tracks like ‘Brooklyn Texas’. Of course these are love stories told the way only Ridley can; tracks that run the gamut from hard and bitter to hardly better, including a beautifully rendered, deliberately down-tempo take on the classic Tom Petty song , ‘You Got Lucky’

While much of Ridley’s new material is drawn from real life experiences he’s gathered up on the road, Wildcard still has its share of shady characters, jackknifing tractor-trailers and whiskey-fuelled bar fights. And for those who identify strongly with Ridley’s less reasonable characters – the ones who tend to prefer to stir things up with a pistol in one hand and a bottle in the other – there’s ‘The Blood Trilogy’. A companion EP recorded during the same sessions and co-written with Dunn – a highly satisfying three-song western epic of violence and vengeance informed by Ridley’s ongoing fascination with the bleak worlds of writers like John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy.

Catch alt country artist Ridley Bent live in concert at Princess Park in downtown Brandon this Thursday night. It’s the second concert in the Summer Lights Concert Series. Show starts at 7pm admission is free!