Dierks Bentley scored the seventh Billboard No. 1 album of his career as “The Mountain” summited this week’s Top Country Albums chart.
Dierks’ ninth full-length album moved 102,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music, besting his previous record of 101,000 units for 2017’s Black. The Mountain also debuted at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart.
“This album started as the smallest seed of an idea,” said Dierks. “It was inspired by where I am in my life right now, but also by the people I meet out on the road who triumph over hardship every day. We all share this underlying sense of gratitude and hope, which really became the base of The Mountain.”
The impetus for the album’s creation was Dierk’s June 2017 performance at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in the town of Telluride in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. 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, including the title track.
Dierks scored the 17th No. 1 single of his career as the album’s lead single, “Woman, Amen,” reached the top of both the Billboard Country Airplay chart and the Mediabase chart earlier this month. “Woman, Amen” was penned by Dierks, Josh Kear and Ross Copperman in Nashville in between the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and his songwriting retreat.
“My wife and our relationship has been the one constant element in my life over all the ups and downs of my career and personal life,” said Dierks. “Our journey together has made me the man I am today. I doubt my heart would even recognize the old me. This song addresses that in the most direct possible way. The personal gratitude expressed in the lyrics, mixed with a track that leans heavily on some bigger sounds, is the perfect way to introduce the album.”
