Roy Acuff's from Maynardville, and that's where a lot of my family's from. So he's, I've been told, a distant cousin, as well.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I've always been fascinated by family ancestry.
When I was growing up, we had a bungalow in New Jersey which we visited in the summers. Everybody in that small community was named Feldman and was either an aunt or cousin of mine. I just found it comfortable to use the name Feldman.
It's Frederick Dierks Bentley, but my whole family goes by their middle name - my sister, my brother. So from day one, I've always been called Dierks.
On 'Love Actually', I met Hugh Grant, who is a relative: our great-grandmothers were sisters. He'd call me cousin and ruffle my hair.
My dad recently reminded me that my grandfather's cousin was Lefty Frizzell.
I worked with the Neville Brothers for 40-some years on the highway, and up and down since I can remember - funk from New Orleans.
I came from a huge extended family of musicians.
If you're going to be related to someone it might as well be Dickens.
I grew up on Don Knotts and Jerry Lewis and all the guys from Second City.
My mother's side of the family, they're from Montserrat in the Leeward Islands.