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During a rare live-stream celebrating his 2020 album, Here and Now, Kenny Chesney touches on his creative process when crafting a new record. Chesney's musings here feel particularly pertinent, given his first solo single in the best part of two years, ‘Carry On’, arrives next Friday, amid rumours of a new album on the horizon.
The ‘Take Her Home’ hitmaker always creates vibrant, rich tapestries through his albums, with Chesney weaving various threads from his time on tour and in the islands. What makes Chesney's projects stand out, at least from this writer's perspective, is the way in which each thread carries an unmistakable sense of joie de vivre.
When discussing Here and Now, the Knoxville native's Billboard 200 chart-topping album, during a COVID-era live-stream, Chesney is asked about his overall creative approach.
He reflects, “I think every time I release a record, the human experience that life is is the inspiration for my record...I got asked a question yesterday, you know, ‘How is this record different from any in the past that you've put out?’ And I would like to think that they're all different because I'm at a different place in my life”.
He expands, “I've had different life experiences, on the road, off the road, [I've] travelled, met people that really inspired me and influenced my life. So if you do your job right, when you go in the studio, a lot of those people and characters and life experiences make it onto your record. I believe that we did this with [Here and Now] for sure”.
On the surface, Here and Now treads familiar waters for Chesney, with the ‘No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems’ crooner painting vivid vignettes of spending time with friends on his boat (‘Beautiful World’, ‘Guys Named Captain’), live-wire show-nights (‘Here and Now’, ‘We Do’) and heartbreak (‘Knowing You’, ‘You Don't Get To’).
But beneath these broader brushstrokes, there are rewarding subtleties that showcase how, on Here and Now, Chesney has evolved as an artist and person since A Song for the Saints.
And, in the same way, on Chesney's subsequent release, BORN, there are similarities, but at its heart, the record comes from a slightly different viewpoint. It's all Chesney, but A Song for the Saints is permeated by a deep sense of grief about Hurricane Irma and Maria, and the celebratory moments feel more hard-fought.
On Here and Now, the mood is defiant, with Chesney determining to squeeze every ounce out of life in the midst of the turmoil of quarantine, while BORN finds the five-time CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year enjoying a lighter, more untethered joy.
We're excited therefore, with news of Chesney's new single, ‘Carry On’, to see how his voice and the lens through which he perceives the world have adjusted on his next studio album.
Elsewhere in his live-stream, Chesney adds more weight to his earlier point, “I don't approach any project the same way. You know, the last record I did before [Here and Now], that I didn't see coming, was the hurricane relief record after Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria, [Songs for the Saints]. I think that, in my brain, I was gonna go down a certain road, right? I was gonna make a record, and then that happened, and my brain went completely somewhere different. And that record was really different, and because that record was different, this record was different. And like I said, the life experiences are different, and I'm really proud of it”.
Judging by the snippet we've heard so far of ‘Carry On’, which drops on Friday, May 15th, we have good reason to look forward to the first taste of Chesney's BORN follow-up album. Whatever the core sound and message might be, one thing is certain - Chesney will be purely, unashamedly himself, and that is what will make it unique.
Watch Kenny Chesney's full Here and Now live-stream below:
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