โAn Album About the Places That Save Youโ
This summer, Kenny Chesney will release his next album,ย Songs For The Saints,ย on July 27th. Chesney co-produced the 12 track album with Buddy Cannon that deep dive into “the places that save you.”
โSo much has happened since I went off the road in 2016,โ Chesney explains. โAnd all of it, in one way or another, has ended up on this record. Itโs special to me because of what it says โ to me, and for me โ about life, the world around us, how fragile it all can be and about somehow still finding the best parts of you, and moving towards them.โ
Songs for the Saints marks the eight-time Entertainer of the Yearโs first album on Blue Chair/Warner Bros. Nashville. In many ways, this new home for his work mirrors the things that inspired this album.
โLeaving a place where Iโd spent my whole career was both scary and exciting,โ Chesney concedes. โThereโs that rush of not knowing anything about how this company works, and digging in. But thereโs also a special thrill of being around people who truly understand what youโre doing and who are excited to be part of this music. Itโs inspiring in all new ways when you have people match your own passion for the music.โ
Recorded over the last several months, Chesney had a notion about what his record was going to be long before it galvanized into Songs for the Saints. โI was at a turning point in my life on so many levels, and then Hurricane Irma hit the Virgin Islands.โ
โBut this album isnโt about St. John, so much as itโs about what happened to St. John and all those islands you didnโt see on the news,โ continues the man called โThe Peopleโs Superstarโ by The Los Angeles Times. โTo just see the devastation and what that does to people is one thing, but then thereโs this courage and resilience people findโฆโ
โThis is not a literal record,โ he cautions, โbut it is an album about the refuges we all have, how temporary life is and the way we navigate to better places, dig in and face the destruction. And sometimes, we learn to own our wild hearts in the process.โ
Beyond the euphoric โGet Along,โ the banjo and people-positive message tempo track hovering outside the Top 10, Chesney wrote or co-write five tracks. As with any release from the East Tennessee songwriter/superstar, there are songwriters getting their first cuts, surprise collaborations, an obscure jewel and the emotional fabric that makes the No Shoes Nation a place rich with heart, tenacity and the will to embrace life on its terms.
โI feel like I know what this albumโs supposed to be, and I know how much it means to me,โ he says. โI wanted to get it just right, before we set a release dateโฆ and I think weโve got it. Iโm just glad weโll have it out in time for me to play some of these songs this summer before the Trip Around the Sun Tour is over.โ
Over the weekend, Chesney drew a record number of fans to a single show as 43,526 packed Miller Park stadium in Milwaukee. The temperature was in the 30’s, but fans didn’t care as they cheered and sang along to Chesney’s blistering 28-song set. Laughing after the show, Chesney confessed, โIt wasย freezing. I couldnโt move my fingers to play on some songs, but the audience was so incredibleโฆit didnโt matter! They were rocking so hardย and so hot we couldnโt stop ourselves.”