Ridley Bent duo returning to Lethbridge with new music

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Winnipeg based country singer Ridley Bent is excited about taking his long awaited latest CD “Wildcard” on the road and visiting the Geomatic Attic, Oct. 23.


“ It took about three years,” Ridley Bent returns to Lethbridge this week. Photo by Richard Ameryhe said from Winnipeg, where he has been based out of for the past three years adding he wrote about 30 songs for the CD with the help of his producer and added a solid cover of Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky.”


“ I’ve always loved the groove of that song. And my voice is different enough  so it sound different, but I didn’t want to lose that groove,” he said adding that will be the second single.


“The first time I heard it I didn’t realize it was a Tom Petty song until he started singing,” he said adding Barney Bentall encouraged him to cover the song while  touring with him in the Grand Caribou Opry.
“And I love the chorus ‘Good Love is hard to find.”

 The first single “ The Most Beautiful Woman in the world” has garnered the CD a lot of radio support.
 He drew from a lot of country, folk, rock and a touch of hip hop influences for the new CD from fiddle powered western swing to gospel like on “Good Ol’ Cowboy Angel band.”


“ It‘s not based on anyone I know, but there's this gospel song about a band of angels, so it got me thinking abut the idea of a band of cowboy angels. It’s something that came out of late nights of jamming” he said.


 The western swing influence is apparent on  “High Lonesome.”


“ There are two western swing songs in the set that I do and they always get people dancing. So now we have a third. It’s that groove,” he said.
 The groove is what powers the hip hop tinged “Brooklyn, Texas.”


 It has been a while since he played Lethbridge. He opened for Emerson Drive and played his own show here before that.
“I think it will be three years since,” he said.


 While he often plays with a full band, he will be playing this tour as a duo with fellow Winnipegger Chris Dunn on guitar.
“ He’s the best guitarist in Canada, I think,” bent enthused.
“ He’s been on my last two records and I’ve been playing with him for about seven years,” he said adding while they can’t play some of the songs, they can play most of them.


“ We write most of them as a duo,” he continued.
 The live show will include much of the new CD and old favourites from throughout his back catalogue with lots of country, some folk and a few  of his hip hop influenced favourites like Suicidewinder.


“So you get to see one of the best guitarists in the country and country music and cool stories,” he summarized.
 Tickets for Ridley Bent cost $32.50. The show begins at 8 p.m. sharp at the Geomatic Attic, Oct. 23.

— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
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