A trio of country's best hitmakers are on hand for the first night of this year's Kicks Country Fair. Arizona native Dierks Bentley just released his first greatest hits package last week. It's called "Every Mile a Memory 2003-2008," and the album's special content, live recordings, title and cover art were chosen by fans.

Texan Miranda Lambert is still riding high on the most critically acclaimed country album of 2007, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." Her second album landed on many year-end best-of lists and topped the annual country music critics' poll in alternative weekly Nashville Scene.

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Dierks Bentley says Miranda Lambert is 'a great frontwoman of a band' and Luke Bryan has 'youthful energy and a great demeanor.'
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Lambert says Bentley is one of her favorites and revealed that Bryan 'is a really good freestyle line dancer.'
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Bryan thinks Bentley puts on a great show and says Lambert is 'outside the box when it comes to female artists.'
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Georgia's own Luke Bryan made a terrific debut last year with "I'll Stay Me," a little chunk of country comfort highlighted by the hangover anthem "All My Friends Say" and the self-explanatory "We Rode in Trucks." Bryan also had a hand in another production he seems very proud of: Thomas Boyer Bryan, born March 14.

Bentley on Lambert: We've done two tours with Miranda. She's fun to tour with. Her band are great guys. The crew is a lot of fun. I actually bought her crew and band bus an Xbox 360 so we could play some Halo 2 against each other. I'm sure when I see them in Atlanta, it'll be game on, for sure, because they talk a lot of lip. But they put on a great show. Miranda goes out there and she knows how to get the crowd going. She's a great frontwoman of a band. It's fun to go out there and listen to them play.

Bentley on Bryan: I called up Luke to be part of this tour. He's got a lot of youthful energy and a great demeanor. The crowd loves him. He's from South Georgia, and everywhere we go they love hearing that accent. He's a fun guy to watch play.

Bryan on Bentley: I've been touring with Dierks all winter. A lot of respect there and a lot of appreciation for what he's trying to do. We've done about 30 dates with him. I'd sneak around the front to the soundboard and stand there and watch the whole show. He puts on a great show.

Bryan on Lambert: I love what Miranda's trying to do. She's outside the box when it comes to female artists. A lot of attitude and a lot of energy to her live show.

Lambert on Bentley: He is an amazing person. I love Dierks. He's one of my favorites. He treats his people so well and he's so fun to be out on tour with. And he loves to play Halo. It's almost a sick addiction. But we had a blast out on tour. I'm really excited to see him again.

Lambert on Bryan: Luke, actually, is a really good freestyle line dancer. I don't know if people know that about him. We ought to get him to do that out onstage. Backstage at the CMAs last year we got to hang out, and him and Blake [Shelton, fellow country singer and Lambert's boyfriend] were doing some freestyle line dancing together, so that was pretty funny.

• THE 411: Kicks 101.5 and Eagle Country Fair. Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert and Luke Bryan. 6 p.m. Friday at Lakewood Amphitheater., 2002 Lakewood Way. $25-$50; $15 lawn.