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Gary Bennett performs "Better Than This"

In 1993, Gary Bennett was one of the founding members of Nashville based BR-549—the band that was supposed to break the whole alt.country scene on a massive scale. The buzz for that band was so loud that they landed on the cover of Billboard magazine before even signing a record deal—which they eventually did, after provoking a bidding war among the major labels in Music City. But the big explosion never quite came. There were several world tours and five albums—first with Arista, then Sony—but in 2002 Bennett stepped back from it all, feeling that the “retro” label the outfit initially seemed to beg for had become an albatross. While Chuck Mead continued on with a renamed BR549 (minus the dash), Bennett did what any self-respecting man would do—he got a job as a “loader” for Home Depot. He made this career move, he says, just to “prove to myself I was still the same ol’ country boy inside.” With his new album, Human Condition (Landslide), Bennett proves to us that he’s still that and more. Displaying a level of maturity that could sometimes seem lacking in the bar band fare of BR-549, listeners quickly realize that this is country music the way it oughta be—minus the campy “aw shucks” posturing of his old group. This Sunday, June 25, Gary Bennett plays a free show at the Sportsmen’s Tavern with a road band featuring Dave Coleman on lead—who also plays with Robert Reynolds of the Mavericks—and Mark Horn on drums—an original member of the Derailers.

Sunday, June 25 at 7:30pm. Sportsmen’s Tavern, 326 Amherst St. (874-7734). FREE