Dierks Bentley has been putting the finishing touches on his new album, The Mountain. Many factors have influenced the new music, including his fans and their stories.

“I’ve spent three hours a day before the show just hanging out with the fans in some different form whether it’s an acoustic show or several meet and greets. The stories you hear, everybody’s climbing some sort of mountain, right? Everybody’s just finding a way to put one foot in front of the other and just make it out to this concert tonight; the importance of that show to help them on their own journey, their own climb,” says Dierks. “So especially after this [past] summer, it seemed like it was a hard year for a lot of people, not only in our country music community but just in general, and the idea of that mountain that everyone’s climbing really resonated with me.”

Dierks is climbing the country music charts with his latest hit, “Woman, Amen,” which is the first release from his upcoming album, The Mountain.

Dierks is nominated for Video of the Year at this year’s ACM Awards, which will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas April 15th at 8pm ET on CBS.