“Although the atmosphere of Robert's could never be caught on tape, the album brilliantly showcases the band's tight musicianship, super-twang vocals, and fun-loving spirit. It's a must for any BR5-49 fan, and it's a great introduction to them for anyone who’s never seen them play live. – Debbie McClure, Gibson Guitar Magazine”

Gary contributed acoustic guitar and harmony vocals on “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear.” The release also featured tracks from Alan Jackson, Diamond Rio, Brooks & Dunn, etc. Release date September 17, 1996.

Gary contributed harmony vocals and acoustic guitar on “18 Wheels & A Crowbar,” taken from “Live From Roberts.” The release also featured tracks from Steve Earle, Golden Smog and Kim Richey. Release date September 30, 1996.

Gary contributes harmony vocal and acoustic guitar on "One Long Saturday Night."

Gary contributed the lead vocal, harmony vocal and acoustic guitar to “A House Of Gold,” written by legendary Hank Williams, Sr. The project also featured Alan Jackson, Pam Tillis, Brooks & Dunn and Diamond Rio. Release date August 8, 1997.

“Honky Tonk Song” was also nominated for a Grammy Award in the “Best Country Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal” category in 2000.

Gary contributed lead and harmony vocals, acoustic guitar. Release date April 4, 2000.

Gary contributed lead vocal and acoustic guitar to “Honky Tonk Song.” The release also includes Joe Diffie, Toby Keith, Neal McCoy, Alan Jackson, etc. Release date April 18, 2000.

Gary contributed harmony vocal and acoustic guitar to “Too Lazy To Work, Too Nervous To Steal” The release also contains snippets of tracks from "This Is BR549," including "While You Were Gone," "Fool Of The Century" and "The Game." Release date June 2001.

Gary contributes harmony vocal and acoustic guitar to the track "Me 'N' Opie (Down By The Duck Pond)."

Gary contributes harmony vocal and acoustic guitar to this self-penned track!

Gary contributed lead vocal and acoustic guitar on "Hillbilly Thang." The CD was put out along with the country music magazine, New Country.  Each month, the mag sent out a CD of various artists' new songs.   The mag was in existence from 1994 to 1998.

As they say in the music biz, the "buzz" is on Nashville retro band BR5-49, which released its third album, 'BIG BACKYARD BEAT SHOW' (Arista Nashville), last week. BR5-49's hard-swinging honky-tonk country--with its roots in the music of '50s Texas sawdust on the floor and beer in your face acts like Ernest Tubb--provides just the kind of down-home good time that urbane young sophisticates in places like New York City are fixing to embrace in a big way.

Nevertheless, the band's label, Arista Nashville, was looking for a way to build "cred" with the kind of music fan who generally looks with jaundiced eye at any "product" emanating from a record company based in Music City. Then, through a happy accident, one of BR5-49's big fans, indie-rock producer Steve Albini, expressed interest in producing the band. BR5-49, its management and label pondered the options: Should they scrap the already finished album and let Albini re-record it, or get Albini to recut some of the tracks for limited release?

'BONUS BEATS' is the result. The CD EP, which features re-recorded versions of six songs from 'Big Backyard Beat Show' ("Out of Habit," "Seven Nights to Rock," "Little Ramona," "Wild One," "18 Wheels and a Crowbar," "Even If It's Wrong"), comes packaged like a seven-inch vinyl single, in a die-cut sleeve with a slide-out paperboard "record" tray that holds the CD. Clocking in at 19:37, the music on the disc jumps out of the speakers like a good party record should, with aggressively etched guitars and six-pack-fueled vocals making for a real cool time. Unfortunately, you'll have to go to a "Coalition of Independent Music Stores"-affiliated shop to find this, as some suit at Arista figured that large chains (like Tower) aren't "cool" enough to carry the disc--a serious marketing faux-pas, in my humble opinion.

As far as BR5-49's next album goes, though, it oughta be a no-brainer to pick the right producer: Albini's the guy. (Griffith)

Gary contributes lead vocal and rhythm guitar to this track taken from "Bonus Beats" to promote the CD "Big Backyard Beat Show."

Gary Bennett is featured in this chronicle of the evolution of Nashville's famous Lower Broadway. Bill Rouda's photographs capture the images of the patrons and many musicians who worked in Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and Robert's Western Wear among others. Gary was even invited to participate in a panel (with famous songwriter Hank Cochran) about the book at the Country Music Hall of Fame. You'll definitely want to add this to your collection of country music books.

Has any American city so evoked a singular image as Nashville? The steel-and-glass towers of Music Row, the down 'n' dirty honky tonks that fill The District, the hallowed red brick walls of Ryman's Auditorium. And yet, as any true Nashvillian knows, all that glitters is not rhinestone.

In Nashville: The Pilgrims of Guitar Town, photographer Michel Arnaud and writer Robert Hicks wander beyond the Grand Ole Opry to a place filled with high hopes, hard work, and, more than anything else, guitars. Likening the city to "Hollywood in the 1920s," Hicks-the consummate insider-introduced Arnaud-the wide-eyed observer-to residents famous and infamous, from struggling pickers still waiting to be discovered to local legends who bask in the spotlight. One way or another, they've all been seduced by the promise of Music City, USA.

Hicks names Nashville "the Mecca of dreamers." His opening essay and selected profiles introduce readers to the congregation that calls the city home. Like pilgrims trekking to a shrine, the subjects of Arnaud's portraits have packed their prayers into a guitar case and pointed their thumbs toward, as the truckers call it, Guitar Town. Established stars Dolly Parton and Alan Jackson, fresh faces Nate Berret and Gretta Gains, surprising arrivals Peter Frampton and Bela Fleck-Michel Arnaud's gallery of musicians runs the gamut from bluegrass legends to alternative rockers. Some have seen their wishes come true, some never will, but this wonderful collection of captivating images proves that the journey itself is its own destination.

Long before country was king, before hunks-in-hats and girls-in-gingham could be seen everywhere from Tokyo to Times Square, one photographer was documenting the Nashville scene like no other: Raeanne Rubenstein. A long-time friend and fan of country's brightest stars, Rubenstein first arrived in Nashville in the mid-'70s, taking classic portraits of stars as varied as Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash to Roger Miller and Tammy Wynette. She used her camera to dispel the cliches about country music, illuminating the depth, humor, honesty, and grit of its performers in portraits that cut to the soul.

Now, Rubenstein has returned to today's Nashville to document a new crop of trendsetters and tunesmiths. She has revisited some favorite folk -- pulling a Mount Rushmore-like gaze from Johnny Cash and catching a guntotin' Hank Williams, Jr. on his way to the hunt -- but has primarily focused on new faces. She has applied her special vision to portray these stars in a new light: Martina McBride playing peekaboo with her own image; a very sexy Tanya Tucker outrageously posing; the new old-timers, BR5-49, making their debut as the ultimate bar band; LeAnn Rhimes in both playful and come-hither moods; Sawyer Brown reflecting on their own image; Mark Chesnutt blowing bubbles; Wynonna posing as a silent-film goddess; Emmylou Harris caught in a net ... each image unique, each memorable, each definitive.

The "rebellious youth music" we know as rockabilly was born in the '50s and enjoyed a great revival in the '80s This book is a straight-from-the-heart account of how the genre's greatest artists - author Billy Poore's personal friends - made their mark. Billy gives the lowdown on everyone from pioneers like Gene Vincent, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Eddie Cochran and Charlie Feathers, to the next generation of stars like Link Wray, Dave Edmunds, Robert Gordon, Dwight Yoakam, The Blasters, The Stray Cats and BR5-49, to the unlikely artists who have been influenced by rockabilly, including Conway Twitty and The Beatles. His uncensored stories and incredible unpublished photos deliver an inside look into the wild art of one of America's greatest inventions. The book is also a great reference guide, detailing artists' (from the legends to the one-hit wonders) chart activity, career milestones and tours. With its sentimental foreword by the late Danny Gatton, this book is a must-read for all fans of music and Americana!

From The Book Jacket: Fan Fair is the setting for this extraordinary inside look at country music. Laurence Leamer had unprecedented access to the stars, managers, songwriters and record company execs of Nashville. Here is the troubled inner life of Garth Brooks, the greatest-selling solo artist of all time. Vince Gill takes a song out of an old leather bag and records a No.1 hit. Reba McEntire angers her fans so much that they tear up her photos, Patty Loveless sings her heart out while her beloved older sister lies dying in a nearby hospital and superstar Shania Twain talks with handicapped Fan Fair goers. Here is Mary Chapin Carpenter singing at the White House instead of Fan Fair. Here are Alan Jackson and Brooks and Dunn at the height of their success juxtaposed against the struggles of Emmylou Harris. The younger stars are portrayed as well: LeAnn Rimes, Mindy McCready, James Bonamy, and BR5-49, all in vivid, novelesque detail. Unknowns, once-knowns, label reps, producers, songwriters and managers are all part of this rich mosaic of Nashville life as it plays out for one incredible week.

Webmaster's Note: If you aren't ready to hear "the truth" about how Garth Brooks talks about himself in the third person, Mandy Barnett's weight issues or how Barry Coburn mourns the loss of superstar client Alan Jackson...this probably ain't your kind of book. However, it kind of blows over you like a cool Jacqueline Susann/Jackie Collins literary breeze. A tad on the tabloid side, it's still a great poolside read, to be taken with a big grain of salt! Be sure to stock up on the Dr. Pepper and Doritos. You'll want to read it in one go. It's just that much fun!