Journalism Bentley had developed
typesetting skills, and was able to use these as an entry to a position in 1974 as the
music editor at the
Austin Sun bi-weekly newspaper.
Music industry Entering the record business, Bentley became the director of publicity at
Slash Records and rose to become a
senior vice president of
media relations at
Warner Bros. Records. In his role as a publicist, he has worked with such artists as
Los Lobos,
Elvis Costello,
The Blasters,
Green Day,
X,
Lou Reed, The
Red Hot Chili Peppers and
R.E.M. As a record company executive, he has provided guidance to the careers of such artists as Doug Sahm, ZZ Top and
Wilco. In 1990, upon learning of the financial distress of
Roky Erickson, founder of the 13th Floor Elevators, Bentley organized a tribute album for him, for the purpose of raising funds. The result was
Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson, released on
Sire Records, part of the Warner Bros. Records group with which Bentley was then associated. Similarly, in 1999, when Bentley learned that
Moby Grape co-founder
Skip Spence was seriously ill with cancer and facing mounting medical bills, Bentley again organized a tribute album:
More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album, released on
Birdman Records. In 1992, Bentley was instrumental in restarting the career of
Jimmy Scott, acting as executive producer and writing the liner notes for Scott's comeback album,
All The Way, which was also released on Sire Records. Bentley is also notable for his efforts to enhance public appreciation of the contributions of particular artists. For example, he is the executive producer of a retrospective Roky Erickson compilation,
I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology (
Shout! Factory, 2005) and a tribute album to
Doug Sahm,
Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm (
Vanguard, 2009), recorded and released nearly ten years after Sahm's death. Similarly, Bentley was associated with the 1992 compilation of
O.V. Wright material,
Soul of O.V. Wright, released 12 years after Wright's death, at the age of 41. Bentley was with Warner Bros. Records from 1986 to 2006, at which point he became the personal
public relations representative of
Neil Young, as well as the
chief executive officer of Sonic Boomers Inc., an internet-based music news and information site, modeled "as something like
Pitchfork Media for the older set, or maybe something like
No Depression on the Web." He also became the
A & R Director at
Vanguard Records, where his first signing was
Merle Haggard. He joined Concord Records's A&R department in 2015, and was A&R director for Alejandro Escovedo's
Burn Something Beautiful release. He also co-produced the 6-CD set
Otis Redding Live at the Whisky a Go Go: The Complete Recordings. Bentley remains a longtime contributor of music reviews and music articles to the
Austin Chronicle. and writes the monthly reviews column "Bentley's Bandstand" at www.americanahighways.org. Bentley's first book,
Smithsonian Rock & Roll: Live and Unseen, was published by Smithsonian Books in October 2017. He is presently writing for Neil Young Archives, and started Water Bros. Films in 2019. The company is developing a documentary on longtime music manager Elliot Roberts (Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Geffen-Roberts Management, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and others), who died in 2019. Bentley produced a second tribute album for the late singer Roky Erickson, titled
May the Circle Remain Unbroken, released by Light in the Attic Records July 2021. Bill Bentley also produced the Lou Reed tribute album
The Power of the Heart, released by Light in the Attic Records on April 20, 2024, featuring Keith Richards, Rufus Wainwright, Rickie Lee Jones and other artists. ==Selected credits==