Tens of thousands of people dream about becoming country singers, some of them move to Music City to pursue that dream, and only a handful of them actually get a recording contract and make hit records. Dierks Bentley is extremely aware of his good fortune to have made it through the pack and scored enough times to be assembling a greatest-hits album.

"It's a big leap of faith, but it's been worth every second of it," Dierks told The Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin. "Nashville is a big town, and when you get there, it's hard to know how to start. For me, it meant listening to a lot of bands play in a lot of different bars and going to a lot of writers' nights and listening to different people."

Dierks heard a lot of writers, spent time on the bluegrass circuit and took a job interning for the Country Music Association while he continued writing songs and practicing at home. And now that he's crossed over the line from unknown talent to established star, he's not likely to start coasting.

"I hope we never feel like we've made it," he said, "because I just think then we'd be going through the motions out here. We've been nominated for some big awards, and [a] nomination is always nice, but again, our whole thing is about our live show."

Dierks reached out to his fans to help shape his upcoming hits album. The CD will arrive in stores May 6.