Dierks Bentley is set to release his new album The Mountain on June 8. In advance of it's release, he has announced a late-night showcase of the entire project at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on June 7. The artist says it's a chance to play the whole album for a live audience before he launches his  2018 Mountain High Tour.

“When you put a new album out there, you just want to sing those songs,”  Bentley tells the Tennessean. “I’m getting ready to go play for … lots of people and I know what they want, they want the hits.  You only have a few (new) songs you can squeeze into your set list that feels comfortable for me and feels right for them. But I want to play them all live. The idea was to play the Ryman, which is my favorite place, during CMA Music Fest week, and just do the album top to bottom.”

Bentley says getting his live backing band to learn all 13 songs in time for the performance is a challenge, as most albums are introduced a song or two at a time in a live setting. Especially complicated for this album is the introduction of piano and some intricate mandolin picking from the legendary Sam Bush on three of the songs.

“We’ll have to get him or mimic him somehow,” Bentley said, adding that putting on a show like this makes for a specialized audience.

“It’s a smaller venue so it’s great, just for those hardcore fans who are willing to listen to songs they don’t know and want to hear them. It makes me feel less self-conscious. Knowing we’ll be singing for a room full of people who will be really excited to hear these songs … it’s a pretty cool thing," the artist shared.

Tickets for the exclusive, one-time event go on sale 10 a.m. Friday (May 18)  at dierks.com. One of Bentley's opening acts for his Mountain High tour, Lanco, will open for the show, which takes place during CMA Fest.

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