Dierks Bentley treated fans in L.A. to an outdoor performance of tunes from his upcoming album, The Mountain, during his visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 18.

The Mountain, which drops on June 8, 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.

Once again, Dierks returned to Telluride—this time 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.

During his visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live, Dierks performed the album’s title track and lead single, “Woman, Amen,” which is currently No. 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.

Watch Dierks’ performances below.

photo by Jason Simanek

photo by Jason Simanek