See Dierks Bentley and Maren Morris’ Alluring ‘I’ll Be the Moon’

Dierks Bentley played the first of two sold-out shows last night (September 26th) at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and made the most of the opportunity by bringing out Maren Morris to sing “I’ll Be the Moon” with him. Mid-show he set up the surprise by talking about the significance and presence of female voices on his most recent album Black.

“If I had my way, every night I’d have one of them come out here to the stage and sing but that isn’t happening because I’m not playing Red Rocks every night,” he says in the Facebook video below. “But when you play Red Rocks you won’t believe who will come out and sing with you.”

Morris makes her way to the stage for the seductive song, which depicts an affair happening under the cover of night. Bentley notes that it’s the first time they’ve performed the song together live, but the pair confidently harmonizes on the choruses before switching off lines on the second verse. “I’ll Be the Moon” falls in the first half of Black, when his male protagonist behaves carelessly. In the second half, he learns some hard lessons that force him to grow up.

“The B Side starts with ‘Why Do I Feel,’ and it all comes crashing down,” Bentley tells Rolling Stone Country. “The rest of the record – that’s where the female voices come into the record. You have Maren on ‘I’ll Be the Moon,’ she’s the instigator. But Elle King, ‘Different for Girls,’ Natalie Hemby on ‘Mardi Gras,’ Jessie Alexander on ‘Light It Up’ and Hillary Lindsey on ‘Can’t Be Replaced’ – the back half [of the album] is more the maturity and the growth.”

Bentley will play a second sold-out night at Red Rocks this evening (September 27th), before heading on to a round of Midwest dates next week. Recently, he scored CMA nominations for Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year, Vocal Event of the Year and Video of the Year.