When the pandemic hit in 2020, Dierks Bentley packed up his things and moved his wife and kids from Nashville, Tenn., to Colorado, where he spent much of the year unplugged from music and savoring life in the mountains.

“I was out in Colorado and I was living the life I’d been dreaming about for many years,” Bentley said in a phone interview. “I was back in the mountains biking, skiing, hiking, fishing and camping. I wasn’t interested in music at all.”

That changed later in 2020 when Thomas Rhett and his family came to town to meet up with the Bentleys for a hike.

“He’d been working on music a lot, and he started playing me his record,” Bentley recalled. “I was like, ‘Holy crap! This guy’s been busy.’ I haven’t been doing anything, and he’s been out there writing songs. Maybe I should start thinking about getting something out there.”

If there were concerns that several months in Colorado enjoying family time and his love of the outdoors had dulled Bentley’s passion for music — or his willingness to put in the work it takes to maintain the high standard he’s set with his craft — those went out the window once Bentley picked up his guitar and started forming his next musical statement.

By late 2020, the wheels were in motion for a project that would turn into quite the odyssey on its way to becoming “Gravel and Gold,” the album Bentley released in February 2023.

“At the end of ’20, I picked the guitar back up and started doing some writing retreats and having people come out to Colorado (for songwriting),” Bentley said. “Anyway, long story short, I was collecting songs and felt pretty good about it, and I came back to Nashville and went into the studio.”

His 10th album fulfills the goal of showcasing multiple styles — including contemporary country, traditional country and bluegrass. Bentley is finding room to play several songs from the new album in his shows this summer alongside plenty of his hits.

Bentley will perform Friday at the new Ford Amphitheater in Colorado Springs. Chase Rice and Zach Top will open.

It will be a big show visually, with a stage design that includes a video wall with footage that Bentley said has “unbelievable” depth and detail.

“It looks like a physical backdrop,” he said. “It looks like steel or it looks like a wooden barn or it looks like Colorado in the middle of the mountains. It’s mind boggling, the technology.”

The production, which debuted last summer, isn’t cheap, but Bentley is fully on board with the investment, knowing he likely wouldn’t make money until this summer, when he returned for a second run of shows behind “Gravel and Gold.”

“I always want to tour like it’s the last time I’m going to do it,” he said. “It’s one of those sets that my manager is like, ‘You’re not really going to make any money until next year if we build this set.’ I’m like, ‘I want this thing to be awesome. These venues we’re playing, there are 12 other bands coming up behind us or before us. I want our shows to stick out.”