Dierks Bentley is scheduled to play a show for fans and music industry at Nashville's Ryman Auditiorium on Thursday (Feb. 2nd). Dierks told us that this show is going to be special -- because the venue is so important to him.

He said, "It's the most important venue in the world to me, bar none, and I'm going there. It's one of my first gigs of the year. I really haven't had a chance to have that many shows at all to play before doing it, so it's kind of like the test of all tests. To quote Young Guns, one of the great dramas of all time, Billy the Kid talks about the test of all tests (and) playing the Ryman right out of the gate with a new album with hardcore country fans mixed in with industry people in the crowd, that's a pretty good test, so I like that, and I love the history of that building. Nobody knows more about it than me. There might be people that know as much, but as far as modern country -- my peers go -- I really know the building really well and the history of it and who's played there, so it's a really big deal for me. It should be one of our most exciting shows of the year."

Dierks Bentley will bring his Country & Cold Cans tour back to the U.S. this spring with 20 cities to be announced in the coming weeks.

Dierks will release his sixth studio album, Home, on February 7th.

The album's title track -- a current Top 10 hit -- recently received an ACM nomination for Song Of The Year.

Dierks will be presenting at the 54th annual Grammy Awards.