Country star Dierks Bentley will headline Tampa Pig Jig fundraiser

Country superstar Dierks Bentley will be the headliner at the Tampa Pig Jig in October, a show that will likely sell out for what has become the largest fundraiser for a rare kidney disease started by a group of South Tampa friends.

Bentley, a three-time Country Music Association Award-winning star, will perform at Julian B. Lane Park in downtown Tampa on Oct. 19. American rock band the Revivalists, Southern country duo Muscadine Bloodline, Academy of Country Music-nominated band the Cadillac Three and young breakout country star Greylan James round out the lineup.

The event donates proceeds to NephCure, which funds research for the kidney disease focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and nephrotic syndrome. The Pig Jig was started in 2011 by a band of childhood friends as a backyard barbecue contest to help their friend with a rare disease. It has grown into one of the area’s biggest events, and is the single largest donor for research in the history of the rare kidney disease that their Jesuit High School classmate William Wellman has.

NephCure has said that thanks largely to Tampa Pig Jig, it has increased funding for research, growing from just three clinical trials in 2011 to over 60 now underway. As it enters its 13th year, the nonprofit event has raised more than $7 million and inspired the Silicon Valley Pig Jig in California, Rocky Mountain Pig Jig in Colorado and the Staten Island Pig Jig.

In Tampa, the once-backyard barbecue event has grown into a day featuring competitive teams of pit masters, as well as live music, games and a silent auction.

Headliner Bentley burst onto the country music scene in 2003 with his self-titled debut album’s toe-tapping first single, “What Was I Thinkin’.” Since then, he has had 20 No. 1 songs on the country charts.

Tickets start at $130 and go on sale this Friday, April 26, at 10 a.m. at tampapigjig.com. Children 10 and younger are free.