NASHVILLE, Tenn, June 4, (AP): The last time Dierks Bentley made a bluegrass album, it was a chance to regroup after a terrible tour. He had opened for Kenny Chesney twice, in 2004 and 2006, and gained enough confidence thanks to a couple of platinum albums and radio hits to launch his own headlining arena tour.In Bentley’s words: “It was a huge failure.”“We were playing half houses, so you’re taking your stage and moving it under the Jumbotron. You put a huge drape behind you to make it look like a half house, so people are coming to the arena, but it’s only half filled and it’s kind of weird,” he recalled. “Two thousand people is a lot of people, but not in a place that holds 20,000.”For Bentley, that setback was one of the hardest mountains he had to climb in his career. Releasing that bluegrass album, “Up on a Ridge,” in 2010 was a turning point in his career, just like his ninth studio album, “The Mountain,” out on June 8, might be for this country star.“Being from Arizona, I had a mountain in my backyard. I would go hiking in that mountain when I was four years old,” Bentley said. “As you get older, you realize the journey itself is the reward and working your way through each step. And I feel like that’s the way my music career has been. The ups and downs, I’ve enjoyed all of it.”Bentley’s career now seems mile-high. He’s scored four platinum singles and earned more than a dozen Grammy nominations. This year he’ll be honored by the Academy of Country Music with the Merle Haggard Spirit Award. He also won’t be hiding empty seats while on tour this year: He was one of the highest grossing country headliners last year and has announced his first ever festival, the Seven Peaks Festival, in Colorado this fall.For “The Mountain,” Bentley stepped away from the frenzied pace of Nashville and took several of his trusted songwriter-friends to Telluride, Colorado, a serene ski town in the Rocky Mountains that he’s visited many times when he’s attended the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.InspiredThe Arizona-born singer zeroed in on the theme of the album, which was how being in nature made him feel inspired and empowered.“Obviously the metaphor of a mountain, climbing your own personal mountains, your battles, is where you find your strength, your character and perseverance,” Bentley said.Bluegrass veteran Del McCoury said Bentley has ingrained himself among the close-knit community because of his humbleness and passion for roots music.“He used to come to Station Inn and sit in with all those bluegrass pickers and he just kind of learned by example,” McCoury said. “He’s a big country star, but a lot of them got started that way, like Vince Gill and Marty Stuart and Allison Krauss.”The album is the best representation of all his skills, from being a true fan of acoustic instruments like the mandolin and banjo, to raising a glass to his partying crowds and delivering arena-sized anthems. The first single, “Woman, Amen,” was a message song that has resonated for fans. Bentley’s tour mates, Brothers Osborne, lay down heavy guitar licks on their duet with Bentley called “Burning Man,” and the title track is a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-style rock song that ends with a banjo-guitar breakdown.The bluegrass influences are subtle on songs like “You Can’t Bring Me Down,” featuring mandolin player Sam Bush and heavier on the Brandi Carlile duet “Travelin’ Light,” which also features bluegrass musicians Jerry Douglas and Tim O’Brien.“If anything I am looking for ways to take audiences higher than you can take them with just a fun song,” Bentley said. “I have ‘Drunk on a Plane.’ I have ‘5-1-5-0.’ I know I can bring the party every night. But on this record I want to find a place to take it even higher.”Jennifer Warnes, “Another Time, Another Place” (BMG)Even when major an-album-a-year bands and singers are rare, the 17 since Jennifer Warnes’ last record, “The Well,” are far too lengthy an interval, making her return that much sweeter.Still further back is her career peak — her tremendous 1987 collection of Leonard Cohen songs, “Famous Blue Raincoat” — and her soundtrack hits from “Norma Rae,” “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “Dirty Dancing.”There are no Cohen compositions on “Another Time, Another Place,” but Warnes and producer-bassist Roscoe Beck have found plenty of songs worth their attention and talent, mostly covers written or made famous by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Pearl Jam, Elvis Presley, Mickey Newbury and Dire Straits.The opening track, Eddie Vedder’s “Just Breathe,” is imbued with a dose of elegance both in Warnes’ vocals and in the arrangement, which chooses strings and a French horn to layer the emotional heft without mawkishness. Presley recorded Lonnie Johnson’s “Tomorrow Night” already while at Sun Records and Warnes preserves its simplicity and aching uncertainty.Greg Leisz’ pedal steel and Dean Parks’ mandolin help guide Newbury’s “So Sad”; Ray Bonneville’s “I Am the Big Easy” is like a New Orleans encyclopedia; and Warnes fully submerges herself in the soulful blues of “Back Where I Started,” written by Derek Trucks and Warren Hayes.A version of Mark Knopfler’s “Why Worry” ends the album with sentiments similar to the opener’s — both champion hope and resilience amid tragedy — fitting choices as Warnes lost her mom and several other close kin, as well as her manager, within a short span.If it took Warnes a long time to commit to making an album again, the clarity and confidence of her performances on “Another Time, Another Place” validate her decision with style and grace.