Dierks Bentley announced he will release his upcoming ninth studio album, The Mountain, on June 8.
The 13-song offering was inspired by Dierks’ June 2017 performance at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in the town of Telluride in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado.
“I found myself there, constantly reaching for my guitar,” Dierks said. “It was like a gravitational pull. That town and those people just make you want to be creative, I couldn’t describe it. I was like, ‘How do I tell everyone in Nashville this is what I want to write about?’ I realized I couldn’t bring it back, so I had to take everyone out there.”
Dierks returned to Telluride a short time later for a week-long retreat with fellow songwriters Natalie Hemby, Luke Dick, Ross Copperman, Jon Randall, Jon Nite and Ashley Gorley and wrote the bulk of the album’s songs. Dierks co-wrote 10 of the 13 tracks.
Dierks returned to Telluride with his production team of Ross Copperman, Jon Randall Stewart and Arturo Buenahora Jr to a tucked-away hideout called Studio in the Clouds in November 2017 to record the album.
“For me it’s the best of both worlds, and it feels like something new,” says Dierks. “It’s powerful but also happy, with acoustic sensibility mixed in with the big sounds I like to have for the road. They are the songs I’d play for somebody to say, ‘This is who I am right now.’”
In addition, Dierks revealed that two songs on the new album include collaborations with other artists: “Burning Man” features Brothers Osborne while “Travellin’ Light” features Brandi Carlile.
The Mountain Track Listing
- “Burning Man” (Feat. Brothers Osborne)
- “The Mountain”
- “Living“
- “Woman, Amen“
- “You Can’t Bring Me Down“
- “Nothing On But The Stars”
- “Goodbye In Telluride”
- “My Religion”
- “One Way”
- “Son Of The Sun”
- “Stranger To Myself”
- “Travelin’ Light” (Feat. Brandi Carlile)
- “How I’m Going Out”
album art courtesy of the GreenRoom PR
