Dierks Bentley's "The Mountain" Re-awakens His Passion for Bluegrass

by

Arden Lambert

Updated

January 15, 2018

Updated

January 15, 2018

Updated

January 15, 2018

Dierks Bentley's "The Mountain" Re-awakens His Passion for Bluegrass 1

Dierks Bentley’s ninth studio album ”The Mountain” came out as an artistic project, it is done literally on the mountains of Colorado. The Arizona native preferred doing something different on his upcoming record. So, rather than working it out at any music studio, he and his co-writers embarked on what can be thought of as a tour of a lifetime up to the hills and came back with something promising to amuse his fans.

In a recent interview with NPR, Bentley disclosed that he’s looking for something different and trying to find ways to make it meaningful to him.

“Every record needs to be different. It needs to stand up on its own…If it’s a sound or idea or a song, I need to find something that’s gonna give me the inspiration to jump off of.”

Interest in Bluegrass

Given his musical orientation on bluegrass, Bentley released “Up on the Ridge,” a bluegrass-inspired album in 2010. Then after his performance in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in the summer of 2017, the country music star was inspired to incorporate the bluegrass elements on each track included in his next album.

“I was fortunate to be asked to play the bluegrass festival in Telluride and I was on stage and I felt this amazing energy coming out of the mountains up there. There’s something about being in that landscape that really struck me in a musical way… Being at the bluegrass festival in Telluride gave me the very small, small seed of what the album could be.”

“The Mountain,” as described by Bentley, is a mixture of his earlier bluegrass album, “Up on the Ridge” and his recent release, “Black.” The country music singer intends to engulf the space on The Mountain with big sounds but with the backing of bluegrass elements such as mandolin, banjo, fiddle, and flat-picked guitar.

“My musical brain is so country and bluegrass oriented” he affirms.

Making of “The Mountain”

Behind the startling success of the country superstar’s album were six of the best songwriters and some of Bentley’s favorite friends. Songwriters Jon Randall, Luke Dick, Ross Copperman, Jon Nite, Natalie Hemby, and Ashely Gorley were one with the singer throughout the exciting making process of “The Mountain.” Bentley shared,

“We’d write all day long and around four o’clock we’d meet on my deck at this tiny little house and start drinking some beers and hanging out, watch the sunset, watch the mountains, change colors, everyone playing songs.”

The Mountain,” written and recorded in Telluride, Colorado, tackles theme on self-reflection. The album’s setting is just perfect for writing songs with such leitmotif. Some of the songs are heartening while others implicate gratitude, as well as love. There are also songs that can serve as prayer according to the singer. He further associated the songs he recorded in the mountains to the metamorphic mountains we face daily.

“Looking back now, he recalled, I think we were all searching for hope and optimism when we were writing this music.”

Bentley considered “The Mountain” as having the most inspiring creative process that he has done thus far.

To flare up your excitement, here’s a sneak-peek of the much-awaited album, which is due for release this 2018.

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