Revisiting a past project is a little like flipping through an old scrapbook. You remember the faces, the road trips, and the wild ideas that somehow worked. The year was 2012, and we were filming Season 1, Episode 3 of our HGTV series, The Junk Gypsies. On May 12, that episode aired for the first time, sharing the story of how we transformed Dierks Bentley’s Airstream into a rolling country music haven.
More than a decade later, we still look back on that project as one of our favorites. It is a time capsule from those HGTV days when every build, every detail, and every mile on the road felt like a dream in the making.
Dierks wasn’t just a country star on the rise when we met him, he was a kindred spirit. The kind of soul who feels like an old friend right from the start. We’ve been lucky to know him for years now, and watching his journey from the “little white tank top” days to sold out arenas has been nothing short of magic.
The world knows him for the songs, the shows, and the way he can turn a crowd into one big sing along under the stars. Along the way he has picked up CMA, CMT, and ACM awards, earned a place in the Grand Ole Opry, and been nominated for 14 Grammys. His music has carried him to the top of the charts again and again, with hits that have become part of the soundtrack of modern country.
To us, he isn’t just an international country music star, but a friend as well. He will always be the guy with a guitar, a dream, and a heart as wide as the desert sky.
Dierks Bentley wanted an Airstream that brought together the two most important things in his life. He wanted it to be one part songwriter/troubadour lair and one part camping hideout for him, his wife, and their three children.
We did our due diligence: listened to hours of his music, dreamed up the design, and pulled together an Americana hideout that gave him everything he wanted.
This was one of the bigger Airstreams we’ve done: a thirty-one-foot Sovereign Land Yacht with a bathroom and kitchen- and it turned out to be even more meaningful than we even suspected.
As we added finishing touches, Amie Sketched out a quick thunderbird for the drop cloth curtain on the back.
“The Junk Gypsies designed and 1970s Airstream for me, and this put this thunderbird image on the back window curtain. I just loved that image. And my dad was part of a group called the Thunderbirds- a civic organization in Phoenix that raises millions of dollars a year for charities. It’s a really cool thing, and he was really proud to be a part of it. But Amie and Jolie didn’t know that connection at the time, and then with my dad’s passing, it just took on a special meaning. I ended up using it to represent my album Riser. I’ve heard so many stories on the road about it. People even got tattoos of it. It’s a symbol of strength and resilience, and I think a lot of people can relate to that.”
-Dierks Bentley
An outhouse-inspired door leads to the ultimate porta-potty. In the spirit of junk karma, a salvaged church pew cut in half serves as perfect booth seating. We resurrected the pedal board from a grand piano for a soulful table base. Can I get an “Amen”?
A vintage minnow bucket light sets off the ralph Lauren Highgate metallic interior.
Cozy sleeping quarters with salvage wood, Santa Fe-style bedding, and chandeliers.
The Americana troubadour galley features vintage bunting, fringe curtains made out of drop cloths, an old wooden crate with casters added for versatile coffee table storage, and last, but not least, a hand-stenciled floor.
We created a tabletop made out of vintage concert posters and bar top resin.
Old-school 8-tracks stand the test of time.
Looking back now, it is hard to believe that Dierks’ Airstream rolled out of our workshop more than a decade ago. What started in the spring of 2012 during Season 1 of The Junk Gypsies has since become part of our own story, a reminder that the best projects are the ones built with heart, grit, and a little bit of road dust.
XOXOXOXO,
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