Gary Bennett

Gary Bennett co-fronted and was a founding member of one of the most successful country music bands of the 1990's, BR5-49. During Gary's tenure the group 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". The band sold over 500,000 albums and toured the world, headlining shows as well as being invited to open shows and tours for acts like Bob Dylan, George Jones, Merle Haggard, the Black Crowes and Brian Setzer.



After five major album releases and years of constant world wide touring, Gary felt as though the musical freedom BR549 once enjoyed had become stagnant due to the "retro" pin tagged to them. Wanting to make original & more progressive music, Bennett made a decision in to step away from the group and let his head clear. Gary left BR549 in 2002 and retreated from music for a short while, only to return to writing and performing.



"Getting back in touch with real people in the real world gave me the inspiration to start writing again," he says. A series of personal tragedies in 2004 helped reinforce that desire. "I know that music was given to us to smooth the rough, bumpy road of life," he states. "I believe that whether I'm walking down the sidewalk or on a stage, my purpose is to try to help people. Songwriting is what I have been given to achieve that."



In 2006 he released a critically acclaimed solo record, "Human Condition", and went on tour to support the record's release. Human Condition presented 12 new recordings, most of which were written by Bennett, including one co-written with Todd Snider ("Better Than This").



Bennett's career as a solo artist was very well received by critics and fans alike, many of the opinion that he had never sounded better. In late 2006 he released a live concert DVD and short documentary film.



"Inside and Out" focuses on Bennett's departure from music in 2001 and his return as a solo artist earlier this year. The DVD includes a full length concert filmed in Nashville. The DVD also includes a special mini-documentary about the making of Gary's debut album "Human Condition".



On July 13th 2010 Gary released his first EP titled "You Are Never Nice To Me" that previewed songs from his forthcoming full length album. The EP features two bonus tracks, "Long Black Veil" and "Hickory Wind" which are exclusive tracks to the EP.



"My Ol' Guitar" was released on October 12th, 2010 and is Gary's second solo album. The album was co-produced by GB and Kenny Vaughan. The reviews have been pouring in and the critics have all agreed that it's Bennett's strongest release as a solo artist.



Stay tuned to this page and the official web site for news on GB.
:: please note that Gary does not check or reply to mail in his MySpace inbox, but all messages are forwarded on to him and appreciated ::