He puts a little country in music show

About a quarter of the way into ABC's country music concert special, Dierks Bentley gives four fans from Canada a quick tour of Nashville, including a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

It's no surprise that Bentley is the one who suggested the stop to the producers of CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock (9 p.m. Monday, 6ABC). The amiable 31-year-old star is undeniably commercial, but he's also one of the few artists on the show whose music contains any hints of where country actually comes from.

"I thought the Hall of Fame would be a cool idea, because I feel like I'm trying to be a bridge between what's left of country music and the future of it," Bentley says over the phone from the Nashville airport before departing for Las Vegas. "So the Hall of Fame was a nice way to tie those two together."

During the visit to the Hall, Bentley runs into the great George Jones, a friend of his. The silver-haired Possum is widely regarded as country's greatest vocalist, but of course he doesn't get to sing. It's emblematic of a show, and an industry, that treats its heritage like Grandpa Simpson. "Hey, look, it's George Jones! Thanks for stopping by. Now here to perform is Sugarland."

OK, so it's the summer and this special is supposed to be fun and viewers don't always need a history lesson. Still, it's downright disheartening when a Country Music Association project gives more air time to fluffy a la mode acts like Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood than it does to truly talented, tradition-minded figures like Bentley, Brad Paisley, Josh Turner, Alan Jackson and even the teenaged Taylor Swift. (It could have been worse, we reckon. At least Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are not part of the lineup.)

As for that Country's Night to Rock label, you have to wait till the very end and the explosive young Miranda Lambert to hear a country artist who rocks with any real bite. She makes all the others who try - Underwood, Brooks & Dunn, Big & Rich, LeAnn Rimes - sound thoroughly lame.

Bentley, who grew up listening to country in Phoenix and who can be seen on the special performing his twangy hit "Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)," knows that the music isn't what it used to be, but he's hoping for the best.

"For sure the genre is changing, with a lot of outside performers and whatnot, people getting record deals through television shows," he says diplomatically.

"Hopefully, this will bring more fans into country music and they'll stick around and go back and listen to the older stuff and discover Waylon Jennings and all the [other] great guys - Johnny Cash, Hank Williams . . ."

In the meantime, Bentley got more out of the TV special than just some added exposure. He supplied his Canadian visitors with guitars and led them as they set up shop in front of the famed Robert's Western Wear on Nashville's Lower Broadway to serenade passersby.

"I think we made $8 at the end of the day," he says. "Their first lesson in the music business was I gave them $1 and kept $7 for myself, as the promoter."